JF-XX(Strike Fighter)

[Sine Nomine]

• To keep the strike force flying since we don’t have a strike replacement jet coming.

As Oscar and many members having required knowledge have said

"Induction of no, new fighter jet in PAF is going to happen, nor it is possible in foreseeable future"



There are few factors,

1. New Generation of fighters (5th Gen) is around the corner, spending cash on new 4th Gen is unwise.

2. New Induction means new training in fields of (Airframe, Avionics, Engine) different type of maintenance.

3. That means training required amount of personal and purchase of required equipment for maintenance for max serviceability of fleet.

4. Training of aviators on new machine.

5. Development of air combat doctrine and tactics.

6. Integration of new fighter with old fleet and assets(AWACS, Fighters, EW assets, Command nodes etc)

7. Construction of MRO facility.

8. Development of new facilities that would cater new fleet on selected bases.

9. State economy is already in bad shape, Incapable of supporting new induction.

That whole process requires handsome amount of cash and time, of which everyone knows what we don’t have.PAF has chosen a good path for future i.e. saving funds for New Generation of fighters+ investing in in-house development of tech under Project AZM and acquiring old Airframes of(F-16&Mirages) already present fleet from around the world on cheap prices for spares or raising new Sq in no time while nullifying above factors of cost and time.

Now coming to Point, we all know that induction of new fighters is not possible and Mirages being used for strike are getting very old and crash rate is increasing, PAF is in love with these, obviously due to their operational value which in my opinion comes out of their DELTA wing configuration.

Mirages are quite old and they must be replaced as soon as possible after every passing year flying them is becoming risky due to Airframe life.

What should be replacement???

J-10,Saab Gripen,Typoon,SU-34, etc we can’t have them due to above mentioned factors of cost and time. Then why not, we should alter wing configuration of JF-17 and develop a strike fighter based on JF-17.

JF-XX(Strike Fighter)

JF-XX(Strike Fighter) would be developed utilizing max amount of components from JFT-blk3 including Engine but would have enhanced capabilities for strike missions and ground penetration. It would be same as F-16 XL.

F-16XL

Background
The General Dynamics F-16XL is a derivative of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, with a cranked-arrow delta wing. It was originally conceived as a technology demonstrator, later entered in the United States Air Force's (USAF) Enhanced Tactical Fighter (ETF) competition but lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle.

Design

The wing and rear horizontal control surfaces were replaced with a cranked-arrow delta wing 120% larger than the original wing. Extensive use of carbon fiber composites allowed the savings of 600 lb (270 kg) of weight but the F-16XL was still 2,800 lb (1,300 kg) heavier than the original F-16A.

Less noticeable is that the fuselage was lengthened by 56 in (1.4 m) by the addition of two sections at the joints of the main fuselage sub-assemblies. With the new wing design, the tail section had to be canted up 3°, and the ventral fins removed, to prevent them from striking the pavement during takeoff and landing. However, as the F-16XL exhibits greater stability than the native F-16, these changes were not detrimental to the handling of the aircraft.

Improvement Over F-16 A/B

These changes resulted in a 25% improvement in maximum lift-to-drag ratio in supersonic flight and 11% in subsonic flight, and a plane that reportedly handled much more smoothly at high speeds and low altitudes. The enlargements increased fuel capacity by 82%. The F-16XL could carry twice the ordnance of the F-16 and deliver it 40% farther. The enlarged wing allowed a total of 27 hard points.

· 16 wing stations of capacity 750 lb (340 kg) each

· 4 semi-recessed AIM-120 AMRAAM stations under fuselage

· 2 wingtip stations

· 1 centerline station

· 2 wing "heavy/wet" stations

· 2 chin LANTIRN stations

However, the "heavy/wet" stations interfered with up to four wing stations.

​

In my opinion JF-XX(Strike Fighter) would utilize same wing configuration as F-16 XL, which is cranked arrow Delta.

Advantages Delta Wing configuration.

· The delta wing offers advantages in structural integrity and both high-speed and low-speed flight.

· Because of the wing's large surface area compared to its span, it can be built stronger and stiffer,

· It's also cheaper and easier to build.

· The delta wing also gives the airplane a higher critical angle of attack.

· Vortexes generated along the leading edge of the wing re-energize the flow boundary layer, delaying separation and stall. This gives the wing more stable flight characteristics at low speed.

· At transonic/supersonic speeds, the delta wing keeps the shock cone behind its leading edge, giving it more stable supersonic flight characteristics.

· The primary cost to all these benefits is the significantly increased drag due to the greater lifting area. Delta-wing aircraft must produce much more power to reach the same airspeeds as swept-wing aircraft.

· Cranked Arrow Delta Wing gives aircraft substantial gains in payload and agility without sacrificing agility.

· It allows higher speed dash(Mach 2 dash)
. A delta wing is naturally stable in pitch; therefore it does not require a separate tail surface.
· Due to the large root chord, a delta wing combines low relative wing thickness with a sufficiently thick wing spar for a lightweight structure. Since a low relative thickness keeps wave drag down (a drag component which occurs only in supersonic flow), this makes delta wings especially attractive for supersonic aircraft.

· The large root chord gives the delta wing a high internal fuel volume even at a low relative thickness.

· The large root chord also provides it with a large surface area which helps to bring the minimum speed of the aircraft down.

· With sufficient leading edge sweep, a delta wing produces vortex lift, so flow separation can be turned into a means of increasing lift.

·

JF-XX Strike Fighter

Design

· JF-17 blk 3 fuselage, engine, avionics.

· Same airframe construction material.

· Cranked arrow delta wings.

· Increasing length of landing gears for more ground clearance.

· DSI intakes.

· Fully digital fly by wire system (derived from blk-3).

· Enhanced capabilities for strike missions and ground penetration(NOE flight)

Advantages

· Cost effective when it comes to cost and time factors.

· Manufacturing would be easy.

· Will be operational in short span of time.

· Maintenance friendly.

· Will be better equipped for A2A engagement.

· Longer range due to high amount of fuel.

· Good amount of A2G munitions carrying capability both in terms of load and hard points.

· Ra’ad Integration.

· Good for Navy.



Note:- Don’t jump the guns. Whole of idea is my personal opinion, every valuable member is free to correct me as whole article lacks solid technical parameters on many accounts.




Sources:

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/...ntages-of-a-delta-wing-compared-to-a-swept-wi

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-468/ch12-4.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16XL

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pap...amar/8391e952f1ce64eb8e497064bca6b1d37001a09c

 

[Sine Nomine]

Valuable members your input on a layman's thread is required.
@Oscar @messiach @araz @Tps43 @Signalian @Knuckles @Windjammer @AsianUnion @Khafee

 

[bananarepublic]

I believe we do have a project running for jf-17 derivative strike fighter more or less
Senior members can give better insight .

 

[Silicon0000]

Interesting ........

 

[niaz]

It is an excellent idea. I have only two comments. Firstly who will finance the R&D cost? For Thunder cost was shared 50/50 between Pakistan & China. In case Chinese are not interested, can Pakistan afford to finance the development all by herself?

Assuming R&D matters have been resolved. Since the availability of US origin engine is out of the question; is there any Russian or Chinese power plant available that would enable the new fighter to achieve near Mach 1 at sea level, and Mach 2 at altitude with a clean T/W ratio of >1.1, load carrying capacity of about 10,000 KG (16,000 lbs) and range of about 1000 Km at Hi-lo-lo on internal fuel? Because I have a feeling that while the design of the airframe is within the realm of probability, lack of a suitable engine may kill the project.

 

[BRAVO_]

in my opinion, in any case Pakistan will never go for FC-31 instead they are planing to develop their own single engine stealthy aircraft, which could be based upon the the experience of JF-17 and it would be a mixture of chines, Turkish and russian avionics, and this approach seems more logical when we keep in mined the followings:
1... design and development of a new fifth gen aircraft from scratch, requires a knowledge base and previous experience, infrastructure backed by sufficient budget
2... while state of economy is not suitable to spare a huge amount for research work in near future.
3.... Pakistan airforce has a long experience of single engine fighters jets, which mean training cost of manpower would be less.
4... maintenance and operative cost of a single engine aircraft is less ..
5... in that case shenyang which is developing FC-31 would be willing to invest in the development of this new aircraft keeping in mind PAF would be a confirmed customer. even i am expecting TAI too because such type of aircraft could be a hot cake for developing world countries... etc.. so the design could be something similar to this...

 

[Khafee]

It is an excellent idea. I have only two comments. Firstly who will finance the R&D cost? For Thunder cost was shared 50/50 between Pakistan & China. In case Chinese are not interested, can Pakistan afford to finance the development all by herself?

Assuming R&D matters have been resolved. Since the availability of US origin engine is out of the question; is there any Russian or Chinese power plant available that would enable the new fighter to achieve near Mach 1 at sea level, and Mach 2 at altitude with a clean T/W ratio of >1.1, load carrying capacity of about 10,000 KG (16,000 lbs) and range of about 1000 Km at Hi-lo-lo on internal fuel? Because I have a feeling that while the design of the airframe is within the realm of probability, lack of a suitable engine may kill the project.

Salute to you SIR! You shot the bird on the taxiway.

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

It is an excellent idea. I have only two comments. Firstly who will finance the R&D cost? For Thunder cost was shared 50/50 between Pakistan & China. In case Chinese are not interested, can Pakistan afford to finance the development all by herself?

Assuming R&D matters have been resolved. Since the availability of US origin engine is out of the question; is there any Russian or Chinese power plant available that would enable the new fighter to achieve near Mach 1 at sea level, and Mach 2 at altitude with a clean T/W ratio of >1.1, load carrying capacity of about 10,000 KG (16,000 lbs) and range of about 1000 Km at Hi-lo-lo on internal fuel? Because I have a feeling that while the design of the airframe is within the realm of probability, lack of a suitable engine may kill the project.

Regarding point 1, during the current political/geopolitical challenges being faced; can PAF afford, to not proceed?
Regarding second point, there is always a European counterpart available.

 

[BRAVO_]

Regarding point 1, during the current political/geopolitical challenges being faced; can PAF afford, to not proceed?
Regarding second point, there is always a European counterpart available.

European option is less likely to be exercised due to uncertainty in political relations with European union. so only available options are Russian or Chines engines, so it could be WS-15.... or may be WS-10 TVC

 

[CrazyZ]

Cheaper just to overhaul and upgrade the mirage III/V rose air frames we already have for as long as possible. In time we can clone the mirage III/V air frame and to slap a RD-93 in one of them. It would still be effective in the strike role. I'm not sure how much of advantage it would be over the JF-17.

 

[ziaulislam]

Getting two dozens j10s will always be cheaper than any of the above
Thus PAF will keep mirages 5 going till it finds its aircarft..it will either be a used/new typhoon, j10, flanker, mirage2000 or j31 ..i will be surprised if its AZM..as PAF will need something around 2030 and getting azm before 2040 will be spectacular feat

One other option is that jf17 might take the role its not perfect but has decent capabilities ..especially if block3 indeed has better rd93ma

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

European option is less likely to be exercised due to uncertainty in political relations with European union. so only available options are Russian or Chines engines, so it could be WS-15.... or may be WS-10 TVC

Italy seems to be close to Pakistan, maybe their link can be used.

 

[Tps43]

As Oscar and many members having required knowledge have said

"Induction of no, new fighter jet in PAF is going to happen, nor it is possible in foreseeable future"



There are few factors,

1. New Generation of fighters (5th Gen) is around the corner, spending cash on new 4th Gen is unwise.

2. New Induction means new training fields of (Airframe, Avionics, Engine) different type of maintenance.

3. That means training required amount of personal and purchase of required equipment for maintenance for max serviceability of fleet.

4. Training of aviators on new machine.

5. Development of air combat doctrine and tactics.

6. Integration of new fighter with old fleet and assets(AWACS, Fighters, EW assets, Command nodes etc)

7. Construction of MRO facility.

8. Development of new facilities that would cater new fleet on selected bases.

9. State economy is already in bad shape, Incapable of supporting new induction.

That whole process requires handsome amount of cash and time, of which everyone knows what we don’t have.PAF has chosen a good path for future i.e. saving funds for New Generation of fighters+ investing in in-house development of tech under Project AZM and acquiring old Airframes of(F-16&Mirages) already present fleet from around the world on cheap prices for spares or raising new Sq in no time while nullifying above factors of cost and time.

Now coming to Point, we all know that induction of new fighters is not possible and Mirages being used for strike are getting very old and crash rate is increasing, PAF is in love with these, obviously due to their operational value which in my opinion comes out of their DELTA wing configuration.

Mirages are quite old and they must be replaced as soon as possible after every passing year flying them is becoming risky due to Airframe life.

What should be replacement???

J-10,Saab Gripen,Typoon,SU-34, etc we can’t have them due to above mentioned factors of cost and time. Then why not, we should alter wing configuration of JF-17 and develop a strike fighter based on JF-17.

JF-XX(Strike Fighter)

JF-XX(Strike Fighter) would be developed utilizing max amount of components from JFT-blk3 including Engine but has enhanced capabilities for strike missions and ground penetration. It would be same as F-16 XL.

F-16XL

Background
The General Dynamics F-16XL is a derivative of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, with a cranked-arrow delta wing. It was originally conceived as a technology demonstrator, later entered in the United States Air Force's (USAF) Enhanced Tactical Fighter (ETF) competition but lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle.

Design
View attachment 554000
The wing and rear horizontal control surfaces were replaced with a cranked-arrow delta wing 120% larger than the original wing. Extensive use of carbon fiber composites allowed the savings of 600 lb (270 kg) of weight but the F-16XL was still 2,800 lb (1,300 kg) heavier than the original F-16A.

Less noticeable is that the fuselage was lengthened by 56 in (1.4 m) by the addition of two sections at the joints of the main fuselage sub-assemblies. With the new wing design, the tail section had to be canted up 3°, and the ventral fins removed, to prevent them from striking the pavement during takeoff and landing. However, as the F-16XL exhibits greater stability than the native F-16, these changes were not detrimental to the handling of the aircraft.

Improvement Over F-16 A/B

These changes resulted in a 25% improvement in maximum lift-to-drag ratio in supersonic flight and 11% in subsonic flight, and a plane that reportedly handled much more smoothly at high speeds and low altitudes. The enlargements increased fuel capacity by 82%. The F-16XL could carry twice the ordnance of the F-16 and deliver it 40% farther. The enlarged wing allowed a total of 27 hard points.

· 16 wing stations of capacity 750 lb (340 kg) each

· 4 semi-recessed AIM-120 AMRAAM stations under fuselage

· 2 wingtip stations

· 1 centerline station

· 2 wing "heavy/wet" stations

· 2 chin LANTIRN stations

However, the "heavy/wet" stations interfered with up to four wing stations.

​

In my opinion JF-XX(Strike Fighter) would utilize same wing configuration as F-16 XL, which is cranked area Delta.

Advantages Delta Wing configuration.

View attachment 553997

· The delta wing offers advantages in structural integrity and both high-speed and low-speed flight.

· Because of the wing's large surface area compared to its span, it can be built stronger and stiffer,

· It's also cheaper and easier to build.

· The delta wing also gives the airplane a higher critical angle of attack.

· Vortexes generated along the leading edge of the wing re-energize the flow boundary layer, delaying separation and stall. This gives the wing more stable flight characteristics at low speed.

· At transonic/supersonic speeds, the delta wing keeps the shock cone behind its leading edge, giving it more stable supersonic flight characteristics.

· The primary cost to all these benefits is the significantly increased drag due to the greater lifting area. Delta-wing aircraft must produce much more power to reach the same airspeeds as swept-wing aircraft.

· Cranked Arrow Delta Wing gives aircraft substantial gains in payload and agility without sacrificing agility.

· It allows higher speed dash(Mach 2 dash)
. A delta wing is naturally stable in pitch; therefore it does not require a separate tail surface.
· Due to the large root chord, a delta wing combines low relative wing thickness with a sufficiently thick wing spar for a lightweight structure. Since a low relative thickness keeps wave drag down (a drag component which occurs only in supersonic flow), this makes delta wings especially attractive for supersonic aircraft.

· The large root chord gives the delta wing a high internal fuel volume even at a low relative thickness.

· The large root chord also provides it with a large surface area which helps to bring the minimum speed of the aircraft down.

· With sufficient leading edge sweep, a delta wing produces vortex lift, so flow separation can be turned into a means of increasing lift.

·

JF-XX Strike Fighter
View attachment 553998

Design

· JF-17 blk 3 fuselage, engine, avionics.

· Same airframe construction material.

· Cranked arrow delta wings.

· Increasing length of landing gears for more ground clearance.

· DSI intakes.

· Fully digital fly by wire system (derived from blk-3).

· Enhanced capabilities for strike missions and ground penetration(NOE flight)

Advantages

· Cost effective when it comes to cost and time factors.

· Manufacturing would be easy.

· Will be operational in short span of time.

· Maintenance friendly.

· Will be better equipped for A2A engagement.

· Longer range due to high amount of fuel.

· Good amount of A2G munitions carrying capability both in terms of load and hard points.

· Ra’ad Integration.

· Good for Navy.



Note:- Don’t jump the guns. Whole of idea is my personal opinion, every valuable member is free to correct me as whole article lacks solid technical parameters on many accounts.




Sources:

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/...ntages-of-a-delta-wing-compared-to-a-swept-wi

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-468/ch12-4.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16XL

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pap...amar/8391e952f1ce64eb8e497064bca6b1d37001a09c

Excellent piece of work idea is brilliant we have to find power plant , and rss for that

 

[YeBeWarned]

Well its great analysis , but i have to say that is one ugly looking F-16's there haha

 

[Shabi1]

A photoshop from long time ago. Love the Mirage but not a fan of this concept for JF-17 though, delta's have cons too.