just borrowed the idea of canted radome.
J-11D is a backup plane if J-20 get stuck, it’s basically a super Flanker focus on A2A
J-15T use it because as a carrier-based aircraft, it need to be best equipped, so it also get the canted radome to get a little better in stealth and larger radar.
Feel like it looks like it had an additional pylon beside the rockets
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Good catch. I’ve seen this image but never looked at it closely. It certainly looks like an additional pylon
anybody know when we’re getting the much needed china update? any leaks?
is the j-11 cockpit supposed to be in russian
No. The J-11BS was produced in limited numbers and is primarily used as a trainer aircraft, so there is little need for modifications or upgrades.
So, question for the China peeps:
The J-10C is known to have a fixed plate AESA, mounted at an angle, KLJ-10 from what I can find online, as seen in the pics below:
For which the radome is clearly seen to be angled
We’ve also seen the KLJ-7A, another Chinese AESA, in 4(?) configurations at expos (I’m not sure if these are all KLJ-7A’s, they are all referred to as such online, but the antenna shape appears different?):
Flat fixed plate:
Swashplate repositioner
So my question is, considering the J-16 is shown to have a non-angled radome, do we have any idea what kind of layout it uses for its AESA? I see no obvious sign of SLAR on it, and the non-angled radome would suggest (though not guarantee) that the radar it carries is not an angled fixed plate AESA, nor a multi-array system, which makes me think its either a fixed flat plate, or a swashplate repositioner, but I cant find any further details on the matter…
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I’m not exactly adept at reading moonrunes, so gonna need a translation of what this actually says (or if its even a reliable source in the first place), cuz I see both “-16” and “-20” in there
That doesn’t say that the J-20 and J-16 have the same radar, it says they have some kind of wide-angle radar function as well.
The J-20 very clearly also has an angled radome, though its not clear exactly where its SLAR might be (I assume the white slots behind the radome, or potentially the darker hexagons on the intakes, but they look different to the main radome, so maybe not???)
The J-16 on the other hand straight up doesnt have anything that I could point to as a potential additional radar array, so I’d assume it would have to be a repositioner
Maybe, but J-15T looks like it have fixed plate. And J-16 really maybe with repositioner
I think it is too small?..
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I think so too, but the KLJ-7A pic has the right antenna shape for what I’d expect the J-20’s main antenna to look like, so unless it has arrays tucked away somewhere in the wings or body, thatd be the only place near the nose where they might be?
All AESA radars currently deployed on Chinese fighter jets feature fixed flat plate, as the PLAAF appears unwilling to sacrifice aperture size and detection range for broader scanning coverage.
i think it also has pretty big maintenance advantages. no moving parts and mechanical systems that can fail
Spoke to a chinese friend of mine about this and he says it read more like the person was just explaining what an AESA is rather than saying its a special kind of AESA.
I’m not sure a repositionner really has much or any impact on the allowable aperture size tbh. The internal volume of the radome remains the same. I think a stealth jet might “need” a fixed plate due to the sacrifices that must be made to the dark gods of stealth, leading to oddly shaped noses, but this shouldnt impact stuff like the J-16 at all.
Due to the nose cone taper, any additional mechanical structures or multi-faced arrays would occupy more space, forcing the radar array to be shifted forward, which reduces the radar aperture and consequently decreases the number of T/R modules, leading to a decline in overall power output.