J-20 Mighty Dragon
The J-20 (K/JJ20?) [HASHTAG]#2001[/HASHTAG] technology demonstrator made its maiden flight on January 11, 2011 over the city of Chengdu, wearing a distinctive dark green color scheme and powered by two AL-31F turbofan engines. The prototype features a pair of all-moving tailfins and Russian 1.44 style twin ventral stabilizing fins and tail booms, which shield the engine nozzles and its heat exhausts but might increase RCS. Also there are four large underwing actuator fairings but their size was reduced on later prototypes. It also features an F-22 style forward fuselage, including adjustable Caret inlets but with DSI bumps installed at the upper inner corners, as well as a one-piece frameless canopy. Small LERX are installed between the canards and main wings in order to generate vortex together with the canards at high AoA. Two small dark diamond shaped windows can be seen on both sides of the nose, which could house a certain kind of EO sensors. Two more diamond shaped windows are seen underneath the rear fuselage, plus two more located forward and aft the cockpit, suggesting a distributed situational awareness system similar to the EODASonboard American F-35 could have been installed to provide a full 360° coverage. Besides a large belly weapon bay for medium/long-range AAMs (up to 4 PL-15, or 4 PL-21?), two smaller lateral weapon bayshave been identified behind the air inlets for short-range AAMs (1 PL-10 in each). The 2001 prototype appears to fly without an internal gun, which is expected to be installed onboard later ones. It also may be flying without the RAM coating applied but this may change later. First disclosed by US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) in 1997 as XXJ, J-20 (Project 718) is a 4th generation heavy air superiority fighter to enter the service with PLAAF between 2016 and 2018, a time frame much faster than the one (>2020) anticipated by the western military analysts. Since early 90s both CAC/611 Institute and SAC/601 Institute had been working their own designs to bid for a twin-engine heavy fighter with stealth capability and maneuverability comparable to American F-22. It was speculated that 601 Institute was working on a "tri-plane" design based on canard/conventional layout/V-shape tailfin while 611 Institute working on a design based oncanard/tailless delta wing/V-shape tailfin/lateral DSI/bump inlet layout. All designs would feature a belly internal weapon bay to reduce RCS, which has been speculated to be <0.05m2 (head-on). J-20 also incorporates an advanced FBL system fully integrated with the fire-control and the engine systems. The aircraft has a smooth surface without any protruding tubes or inlets, suggesting an FADS has been installed in order to reduce RCS. Its fire-control radar is expected to be AESA (Type 1475/KLJ5?) based on the less powerful model being tested onboard J-10B, both are developed by the 14th Institute. The radar is thought to be comparable to American APG-77. Both the radar and the CNI system are being tested onboard a modified Tu-204Ctestbed, similar to American Boeing 757 testbed for F-22. The next generation secure datalink is believed to be installed as well which provides secure networking with other J-20s and KJ-200/2000 AWACS. The aircraft also features a "pure" glass cockpit(three large color LCDs plus a few smaller ones and a wide-angle holographic HUD) and possibly an HMDS. J-20 has a retractable IFR probe hidden beneath a cover on the starboard side of the cockpit similar to the one onboard American F-35.Many of these subsystems have been tested onboard J-10B to speed up the development. The exact type of engine powering prototypes is unclear, even though a Chinese or Russian turbofan engine including AL-31F (AL-31F-M1? 13.5t class) and enhanced WS-10 (WS-10G?) (14t class) was speculated. In the end the Russian engine is believed to be the likely candidate (initially AL-31F-M1 later AL-31F-M2/14.5t class). The engine features a silver color "stealth" nozzle with saw tooth edges to reduce RCS and IR emission. However the nozzle has yet to demonstrate an axisymmetric TVC capability. It was reported in November 2006 that a 16-17t class T/W=9 turbofan (WS-15/"Large Thrust"/Emei?) with a TVC nozzle is being developed and will eventually power J-20s in production. J-20 appears slightly longer and slimmer than both F-22 and T-50, suggesting a compromise between achieving high speed/maneuverability and the less powerful engines available. Therefore currently the J-20 prototype still lacks the supercurise capability until the planned WS-15 turbofan enters the service. Russian assistance was also speculated in terms of software support for calculating the RCS and aerodynamics of various designs. The overall performance of J-20 is thought to be superior to that of Russian T-50 but still inferior to that of American F-22. In August 2008 it was reported that 611 Institute was selected to be the main contractor for the development of J-20 and 601 Institute as the sub-contractor. Subsequently a full-scale metal mockup was built at CAC. One rumor in May 2010 claimed that 611 Institute started to construct the first prototype, which was expected to fly by the end of 2010, even though the full configuration version won't fly until a few years later. Two aircraft were constructed and the first low-speed taxi trial by 2001 took place on November 4, 2010. The [HASHTAG]#2002[/HASHTAG] technology demonstrator made its maiden flight on May 16, 2012. Both [HASHTAG]#2001[/HASHTAG] and 2002 were sent to CFTE in Yanliang in 2012, where [HASHTAG]#2002[/HASHTAG] prototype was renumbered as 2004 and [HASHTAG]#2001[/HASHTAG] flew with a new gray RAM paint. The [HASHTAG]#2002[/HASHTAG] technology demonstrator was seen conducting weapon integration tests with a dummy PL-10 IIR guided short-range AAM on its retractable side missile launch rail in March 2013. Unlike that of F-22, the weapon bay door is closed while the missile is fully exposed to maintain low RCS and reduce drag during dogfight. In July 2013 it conducted similar tests carrying dummy PL-15 AAMs inside the belly weapon bay. The completion of building the third prototype was delayed until late 2013 due to the fact that the [HASHTAG]#2011[/HASHTAG] prototype would feature certain "major improvements" and is no longer considered as a "technology demonstrator". The first low-speed taxi test of [HASHTAG]#2011[/HASHTAG] prototype took place on January 16, 2014, high-speed taxi test on February 18, 2014. The aircraft was seen to have a nosed mounted EOTS and frame-strengthened one-piece canopy similar to those of American F-35 plus a new frameless holographic HUD. The emergence of EOTS suggests that J-20 could possess a limited AG capability using laser or TV guided PGMs. In addition it has numerous aerodynamic refinements including reshaped tailfins, extended tail booms, nose landing gear door, LERX and engine intakes with hexagonal side fuel-air exchangers as well as smaller underwing actuators to further reduce RCS. Two large tail booms appear to house additional ECM or rear-view radar antennas to protect the rear hemisphere of the aircraft. A new ECM antenna can be seen aft the air intake as well. The prototype also wears a new light blue/gray RAM coating. A new type of engine (AL-31F-M2?) was rumored to have been installed but this has yet to be confirmed. The [HASHTAG]#2011[/HASHTAG] prototype first took off into the sky on March 1, 2014. A new"stealth" nozzle was tested on one of the engines onboard [HASHTAG]#2011[/HASHTAG] in April 2014. The first low-speed taxi test of the [HASHTAG]#2012[/HASHTAG] prototype took place on July 14, 2014. The first flight of [HASHTAG]#2012[/HASHTAG] took place on July 26, 2014. The [HASHTAG]#2013[/HASHTAG] prototype took off for the first time on November 29, 2014, and the#2015 prototype on December 19, 2014. Both 2013 and 2015 have the pitot tube removed from the nose and both feature a further refined nose radome and tail booms, suggesting the AESA radar has been installed. They have been speculated to represent a nearly "frozen" technical configuration before the initial production. The relatively fast pace of two aircraft being rolled out within one month suggested that the J-20 program is moving towards the low-rate initial production (00 batch?) by 2016. Once entering the service,J-20 could pose a significant impact/challenge to the air power balance in eastern Asian and western Pacific region. It has prompted the neighboring countries including Japan and South Korea to pursue other 5th-generation stealth fighters such as F-35. Recent news (April 2015) suggested that both [HASHTAG]#2013[/HASHTAG] and [HASHTAG]#2015[/HASHTAG] prototypes were being transferred to CFTE for further testing, after that various weapon tests are expected to start at the PLAAF Test and Training Base. The latest rumor (May 2015) claimed that the [HASHTAG]#2016[/HASHTAG] prototype has been built and is preparing for its maiden flight.
- Last Updated 5/26/15
