As I have said earlier, despite almost all internet sources saying all flanker family has the wingspan of exactly
14.7m, I strongly suspected that this is not true.
It simply makes no aerodynamic and structural sense.
The early pure air-superiority Su-27sk's empty weight is 15 tons and maximum take off weight is 30 tons, while the multi-role fighter Su-30's empty weight is 17.5 tons, and maximum take off weight is 34-35 tons. Adding several tons more structural weight and loading weight, without increase the wingspan, will make the wing loading factor worsen, thus making the aircraft much less maneuverable.
Here is more evidence showing the
Wingspan of J-16 are J-15 are not identical at 14.7m.
In the above picture, the common element between the old satellite picture and the new picture is the J-20. I used the
J-20s as reference, and aligned the J-16 and J-15 together, results the
J-16’s wingspan to 15.7m, not 14.7m. J-15 was assumed to be 14.7m.
On the other hand, if we assume
both J-16 and J-15's wingspan to be exactly
14.7m, then there will be a
1.0m difference between the J-20's in the two pictures.
Here is a picture that clearly shows the
Wingspan of J-16 to be 15.7m (1.7m wider than J-20), and J-15's wingspan to be 14.7m (0.7m wider than J-20), when the J-20, which the common element, in both pictures, are used as reference object.
So, I standby my earlier conclusion that the wingspan of J-20 is
14.0m, and nose to nozzle length of
21.7m, and overall length of
22.7m, that I was able to derived from high resolution pictures was correct.
This dimension puts J-20 squarely in the same class as the F-111 aircraft. When J-20 first debuted in 2011, many observers, immediately, has stated that J-20 is a large and heavy fighter as big as F-111, I think they are correct.
F-111 General Characteristics:
- Length: 73 ft 6 in (22.4 m)
- Wingspan:
- Spread: 63 ft (19.2 m)
- Swept: 32 ft (9.75 m)
- Height: 17.13 ft (5.22 m)
- Wing area:
- Spread: 657.4 sq ft (61.07 m²)
- Swept: 525 sq ft (48.77 m²)
- Empty weight: 47,200 lb (21,400 kg)
- Loaded weight: 82,800 lb (37,600 kg)
- Max. takeoff weight: 100,000 lb (45,300 kg)
Notice that F-111 empty weight is
21.4 tons and Max. take off weight is
45.3 tons. I have estimated J-20's empty weight to be
22+ tons, using the
19.7 tons empty weight of F-22 as reference. And I have estimated that J-20 is
5.0m (30%) longer than F-22 from nose to nozzle.
F-22's Max. take off weight is listed as
38 tons, and F-111 is
45.3 tons. F-22 could carry
8.2 tons internal fuel and two external tanks of
2 tons each.
J-20's internal fuel is estimated to be at least
12 tons, about the same as the Su-35. J-20 is
5m longer than F-22. This extra 5m fuselage length could be used to store internal fuels.
I think J-20 has more room to store more than
12 tons of fuel. J-20 is known to be able to carry 4 extra external tanks of
2 tons, each.
J-20 has demonstrated that it has astounding maneuverability, in the same class, as the awesome F-22 raptor. It could do a 180 degree u-turn in 3-4 seconds. And both F-22 and J-22 have demonstrated that they could perform sustained vertical climbing using dry or military power, alone.
With stealthy low observability, very long range, very low drag airframe, very tough airframe, TVC, (Plus Canards and full moving vertical tails for J-20) and very powerful engines
(175kn for F-22, +210kn for J-20) I predict both F-22 and J-20, not only could supercruise at
March 1.8, they could easily reach above
March 3, and cruise there with afterburner turned on.
Further, I predict, they could easily perform the role of Air Dominance Machine, Long range/High Speed Interceptor, and Stealthy Penetrator/Striker, equally well.
While, many aspect of J-20 is still high classified, like it's engine performance and internal constructions, but there are many many publicly available informations on F-22.
The Chief Designer of J-20, Yang Wei, is said to have collected
several meters high of informations on F-22, before his team designed the J-20. They have studied F-22, extensively.
The aim of J-20's design team is to come up with Machine, that could match and even beat F-22, in all aspects.
It's very fun to read about F-22, with this mind. What F-22 could do, J-20 is probably not far behind.
We could gain a lot of knowledge about J-20
by reading F-22.
