China's J-20 Stealth Fighter Stuns By Brandishing Full Load Of Missiles At Zhuhai Air Show
ΣΧΟΛΙΟ ΙΣΤΟΛΟΓΙΟΥ : Έχω ξαναγράψει ότι οι Σίνες είναι τα υβρίδια των Ατλάντων. Είναι η αιχμή του δόρατος τους, δημιουργήθηκαν για αυτόν τον σκοπό.Ένας στρατός κλώνων.Λέγοντας για Άτλαντες και Κινέζους δεν γίνεται να μην πάει το μυαλό μας στο σύμβολο τους τον.....Δράκοντα.Οπότε το μυαλό μας θα πρέπει να συνεχίζει να σκέφτεται...το σημάδι της Λόγχης που είχαν όλοι οι απόγονοι των οδόντων του Δράκοντα που "έσπειρε" ο Κάδμος (Ατλαντική καταγωγής ήταν) στην Θήβα....και στην Βοιωτία οι λεγόμενοι Σπαρτοί.!! Οπότε μου έρχεται στο μυαλό...Άορνος Πέτρα (εκεί που υπήρχε υπόγεια πόλη από κάτω)...Σελήνη....Ουιγούροι Τούρκοι....Μογγόλοι....ο γιος του Ποσειδώνα εκείνο το παλουκάρι ο Σίνης ο Πυτιοκάμπτης που τον νίκησε ο Θησέας (και όλα τα τέρατα που είχε δημιουργήσει μεσα στα γενετικά του εργαστήρια)...οι λεγόμενοι Δέρος (υπόγεια κατοικούν και αυτοί)...οι Γώγ και Μαγώγ....κ.λ.π. ΟΛΑ ΣΥΝΔΕΟΝΤΑΙ. Ο Μ.Αλέξανδρος δεν ήταν τρελός που ισοπέδωσε την Θήβα. Ας αναρωτηθείτε στις μέρες μας....ποιά πόλη στην Ελλάδα θα πρέπει να καταστραφεί ολοκληρωτικά...για να εξαλείψουμε τον "καρκίνο" που φωλιάζει εκεί.!! Τα πάντα πάνω στον πλανήτη ανήκουν στην επανιδρυμένη Ατλαντίδα....εκτός απο τους ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΥΣ.
Οn the last day of China's biennial air show and weapons expo in Zhuhai, a pair of the country's J-20 heavy stealth fighters
added a surprise twist to their routine—they popped open their weapons
bays and showed off full magazines of missiles. This is the first time
such a full load of weapons has been fully exposed and the first time
China has officially shown off the jet's complete internal weapons
configuration in the flesh.
What
we see isn't necessarily surprising, but it is interesting nonetheless.
In the main ventral bays, the J-20 is carrying four PL-15
medium-to-long-range air-to-air missiles. The type is somewhat analogous
to the American AIM-120D AMRAAM. Speculation about what missile actually would hold the PL-15 designation has bounced around a lot, with very long-range missiles and those fitted with throttleable ramjets
also potentially receiving the designation, but now it seems the PL-15
is indeed a dual-pulse motor and AESA equipped missile with a similar
profile as its predecessor PL-12. The PL-12 is loosely analogous to the
AIM-120A/B.
Chinese Internet
Note
that even with their clipped fins, only four PL-15s are mounted in the
J-20's bays in a similar fashion to the YF-22's missile configuration.
It isn't clear exactly what the launch mechanism for these missiles is
based on these photos. A staggered arrangement with six PL-15s may be
possible in the future by the looks of the bays, but this depends a lot
on the how the missiles are ejected from the bay itself. The F-22 uses a
trapeze launcher system to chuck the missiles clear of the bay. The
J-20's main weapons bays also look remarkably uncluttered,
which makes one wonder if the missiles are just mounted to static
hardpoints inside, but this is doubtful as what appear to be launchers have been visible in the J-20s bays for years.
Chinese Internet
The
most interesting part of this display of the J-20's lethal payload
carrying abilities is the pair of PL-10s deployed on the outside of the
jet's side weapons bays. This novel configuration is one of the most
fascinating aspects of the J-20's design. I was one of the first to
point it out and explain its utility back in early 2013, when I wrote the following:
"The F-22, a very loose analog for the J-20 (emphasize very),
uses a canted trapeze that pushes the AIM-9’s seeker out into the
air-stream for proper establishment of a lock before launch once the bay
doors are swung open. Only once the missile has acquired a target and
the pilot 'receives tone' (the AIM-9 series has an audible growl as it
hunts for a heat source, once it finds one it goes from an intermittent
growling sound to a solid tone, cueing the pilot to fire) the missile
can be fired and only then do the launch bay doors close up.
This
method increases the F-22’s radar signature dramatically while also
disturbing the airflow around the jet which makes for lower performance
and a rougher ride during close-in air combat maneuvering, or
dogfighting. Soon, the F-22 will have the AIM-9X
Block II which features lock-on after launch data-link capability. In
other words, the pilot can 'acquire' a target via his or hers onboard
sensors, including the hopefully forthcoming Scorpion helmet mounted
display... Once the target is 'virtually locked' within the AIM-9X Block
II’s engagement envelope the pilot can quickly fire the Sidewinder,
with the bay doors opening and closing momentarily, and allow the
data-link to transfer the acquiring secondary sensor’s info to the
missile after it has left the bay in the form of a vector [to the
target]. The
missile will fly in this prescribed direction so that it can acquire
the target itself, at which point the AIM-9X Block II becomes truly
'fire and forget.'
Once the AIM-9X Block II is integrated into
the Raptor, and especially once the helmet mounted display is
operational, the F-22’s side bay doors only have to briefly open to let
the AIM-9X on its one-way mission. All this begs the question: If China
loves copying the US when it comes to weapons systems, why not just
build something similar for the J-20 when it comes to deploying its
short-range air-to-air missiles?
The
answer is quite simple, lock-on after launch capability is not an easy
one to achieve. It is technologically complex, requires deep systems
integration (software architecture permitting), and robust testing using
live missiles, and thus it is expensive. China, being the resourceful
and cunning folks that they are, figured out a way to employ any new or
relatively archaic high-off-bore-sight short ranged air to air missile
while keeping the jet’s aerodynamics relatively intact (doors closed
during prolonged maneuvering while the missile hangs out on its rail)
while also minimizing the impact a 'deployed missile' has the J-20’s low
radar cross-section.
That is right folks, China just said "we don’t want to have to rely on LOAL capability, so why not just temporarily (as in for seconds or minutes) mount a similarly agile, but much less complex and expensive, short ranged air-to-air missile outside of the bay during times when close range combat is imminent?”
This
is exactly what they did, and honestly, I think it is genius. Radar
signature becomes a small factor when fighting for one’s life at close
range, having a reliable missile ready to make a u-turn off the rail and
subsequently turn your enemy into chaff is so important that is can be
seen as a life and death requirement [especially for a big, not
remarkably maneuverable fighter]. The alternative, such as the reality
the F-22 has faced for the better part of a decade, is that you open the
bay up for prolonged periods of time and pay a large penalty in radar
cross section and [some] performance. Also, by building a relatively
simple contraption, kind of similar to one of those bars that goes on
your lap on a roller coaster, albeit with a missile attached, Chinese
engineers simplified the launch system and also probably made it much
lighter than an F-22 type design. Once again, genius.
Another
point to be taken from the J-20’s short-range air-to-air missile launch
mechanism revelations are that designers absolutely thought it was
necessary to give this jet high-off-bore-sight close range missile
capability from day one, and in a reliable and persistent nature when
needed. This could be due to lack of maneuverability and/or because of
its mission, which I have said for years
is to break through the enemy’s (American, Taiwanese etc.) fighter
cover and take out their enablers (see tankers, AEW&C, C2 and
connectivity nodes). In such a case, being electronically silent is your
best bet at surviving, so using infra-red passively guided missiles,
which require no electronic emissions, at medium-close ranges may be
your only play, at least for anything that does not put out a continuous
or semi-continuous form of radiation (see AWACS or JSTARS). In that
case, a passively guided anti-radiation missile may be the J-20’s weapon
of choice, or a medium-long range AAM that can get within locking
distance and featuring active radar or IR for terminal homing, via a
traditional data-link feeding the J-20’s targeting picture to it
provided by passive sensors (IRST, ESM etc).
Chinese Internet
A
diagram of how the rail works as well as a shot of it dating back to
roughly late 2012 during the J-20's early testing in Chengdu.
Here's a cool little animation of how this system works.
Something
I would like to emphasize from my original analysis is that the PL-10
that is fired from these side bays is something of a
short-to-intermediate range air-to-air missile. This means that in
addition to the missile being capable of high-off-boresight shots that
are cued via the J-20's helmet-mounted display or other sensors during a
dogfight, it is also capable of near beyond-visual-range engagements as
well.
Able to reach out over a
dozen miles or so (possibly substantially farther according to
different assessments), this missile, combined with its ability to ride
outside of the J-20's side-bays, can be used as a silent assassin of
sorts. The J-20 can leverage its stealth and sneak up on targets without
emitting any electromagnetic energy, using just its advanced passive avionics, which includes electronic surveillance measures, infrared search and track and electro-optical targeting systems, and third-party sensor data fed to it via data-link, to locate its prey.
In
other words, the J-20 can take advantage of the PL-10 when maximum
emissions control tactics are used or when it has snuck up on its target
and gets within close, but not yet short-range. Using these methods,
the J-20 pilot can also use the PL-10 for offensive tasks when its
longer-range missiles are expended. Considering the jet only carries
four long-range missiles, at least at this time, being able to wield the
PL-10 to its maximum potential is key. Once again, this is in addition
to using the missile in classic close-range dogfighting scenarios.
Finally,
an infrared-guided missile with decent range like this and the ability
to hang outside the bay for prolonged periods of time is also a good
fallback when fighting in heavy electronic warfare environments as the
missile's imaging infrared seeker is not impacted by electronic warfare
tactics.
As for the rest of the
J-20's air show display, it looks pretty much exactly as what one would
expect from a big, canard-equipped heavy fighter-interceptor that
doesn't possess gobs of excess power. It can roll fairly fast and it can
change direction quickly and point its nose decently, but it bleeds
energy very fast and energy recovery is likely slow. But
extreme agility wasn't the motivation idea behind this design, so that
isn't surprising. With uprated engines, it will only get more capable in
this regard, though.
At the air show, the J-20's designer even teased that
the thrust vectoring tech that is now being tested on a modified J-10B,
a jet that flew at the show as well, may find itself on the J-20, or
maybe it has even already been tested. Equipping the J-20 with thrust
vectoring now seems counterproductive as it adds weight to an aircraft
that is already in need of more powerful engines. But as time goes on,
and as new powerplants are fitted, the weight issue may not be so
pressing.
Still, the added capability of thrust vectoring is
debatable, but as the J-20's designer stated, it could reduce the J-20's
canard deflections during flight. Fluttering flight control surfaces
are not good for a stealthy aircraft's radar cross-section. This is an issue I have discussed in depth before
and one of the biggest knocks against the J-20's delta-canard design
which puts those surfaces—two huge ones in fact—up front where a
stealthy aircraft's radar cross section is most sensitive and important
to its survival. So maybe that alone is enough to justify migrating
thrust vectoring tech to the J-20.
China did do something else pretty unique at Zhuhai 2018 in that it
appears that they devised a way to allow a J-10 to 'torch.' Of course,
this operation was made famous by the F-111, andAustralia's 'Pigs' in particular.
The maneuver, which included dumping fuel and lighting it on fire with
the jet's afterburners, was forbidden in the U.S., at least in the
latter years of the F-111's reign, so it is a bit funny that China seems
to have gone out of their way to pull something similar off. It appears
as if this ability uses the August 1st Display Team's smoke oil
injector to function. It could also be a malfunction of that system, but
I doubt that's the case. Either way, it's cool to see a fighter in
China torching it up!
Οn the last day of China's biennial air show and weapons expo in Zhuhai, a pair of the country's J-20 heavy stealth fighters
added a surprise twist to their routine—they popped open their weapons
bays and showed off full magazines of missiles. This is the first time
such a full load of weapons has been fully exposed and the first time
China has officially shown off the jet's complete internal weapons
configuration in the flesh.
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