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New Image of Shenyang aircraft underside from low flyover.
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ok nvm
why design a whole new plane?
why use an old airframe? PLAAF has more than enough budget to innovate.
I suppose the question of why design different plane if “J-36” is already here. Just remove pilot related parts, put more autonomous electronics and you got a wingman (at least thats how I read it)
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Ah, I understand the question now, thanks.
Loyal wingmen being smaller than their handler aircraft is usually just because the drones are designed to be somewhat expendable and thus demand cheap airframe cost. However this is no longer the case with the Shenyang J-XX because new photos have shown that the airframe is actually quite large (A little smaller than Su-27) and manned.
There is no confirmation on the Shenyang airframe being a loyal wingman drone.
Reputable people in the PLA watching community have said it is likely that both the Chengdu and Shenyang design will be pursued, it’s not like in the US where designs compete against each other, though previously this was the case when the J-20 competed with an Shenyang design that lost. They have also said it is likely that the Shenyang “J-50” or whatever its actual designation is manned.
We can see what resembles the outline of a cockpit between the EOTS and front landing gear.
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The Shenyang design that lost to the J-20 was known as the J-21 Snowy Owl, contrary to popular belief being the FC-31/J-35 was the losing bid.
In this case, the bid was chosen during the design phase, and a J-21 prototype was never pursued, leading to no test bed or demonstrator. By the time the public witnessed the first J-20 prototype, number 2001, it was already decided probably a decade back, that the J-20 would be China’s pick for their stealth fighter.
Despite losing to Chengdu, Shenyang still wanted to create a stealth fighter design to retain technological capability and knowhow, that could potentially be exported to foreign buyers. This is where the FC-31 project comes in. The FC-31 is in a completely different class than the J-20, being a medium sized aircraft, therefore the myth that it was a J-20 competitor is complete nonsense. After awhile the FC-31 was completely privately funded and developed solely by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, until the PLAN took interest in the design as a potential stealthy carrier based platform, this eventual commitment led to it becoming an official PLA project, which gave the program more funding and transformed the FC-31 into the J-35. The PLAAF also soon became interested in acquiring the aircraft, which will be known as the J-35A.
With this historical context, it is unlikely that the airframe is a mere loyal wingman drone, nor a competing design to the Chengdu aircraft dubbed the J-36. As we look back to the J-20 and the FC-31. The new Shenyang Aircraft dubbed “J-50” is in a completely different weight class than the much larger 3 engine J-36. This becomes clear as the objective roles for both aircraft have already been hinted at by observers and watchers in China, where the Smaller "J-50 is to be used in a more traditional fighter role, whereas the J-36 fits something completely different.
Secondly the size and weight of this aircraft is not efficient for a potential drone/loyal wingman design. Not only is there a small hint of what appears to be a cockpit in the newly released images, logically It doesn’t fit any of the objective roles a loyal wingman drone is supposed to take over a manned fighter aircraft. The benefits of a drone/loyal wingman is that it can be smaller and cheaper while providing capabilities that are similar to a larger manned jet, proving not only to be more cost effective, but more aerodynamically and volume efficient compared to manned fighters. By creating a wingman drone that is larger than the flanker in size and much larger in volume, it negates many of the key benefits of a support drone.
It’s pretty safe to say that the Shenyang aircraft is a manned air superiority fighter aircraft, and may be intended for future carrier operations, while supplementing the J-36 in the air force.
This draws it into a pretty close comparison with the much larger and faster J-20 for the PLAAF, and the J-35 being a naval fighter for the PLAN, but also playing a supplementation role for the J-20 for the PLAAF.
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foldable wingtips?
No? they are all moving wingtips, think like a canard but on the tips of the wings.
But unlike a canard which is used for pitch authority, the wingtips would provide a strong yaw and roll authority which is to compensate for lack of vertical stabilizers.
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