PLAAF's 6th Gen Fighter?

[aimarraul]

PLAAF's 6th Gen Fighter?

Posted by Robert Wall at 11/18/2010 7:31 PM CST

During the Airshow China here at Zhuhai, Avic Defense and one of the country's aeronautics academic institutions, launched a competition with the Chinese air force for new UAV designs. The prize is to be awarded next year and to spur some innovative thinking.

On one of the Chinese CD handouts were a couple of concept drawings. Where they are from or what they represent is unclear, but they are nonetheless entertaining.

And with China already working on its J-10 follow-on, here's some fodder for speculation (the airframe, below, actually looks very little like what China's 5th Gen Fighter is believed to look like, let's just call it the 6th Gen concept):

 

[SpArK]

the conceptual design really looks kewl..

 

[ao333]

It looks fast, but not agile.

 

[Markus]

^ We cant really comment on this yet since we dont know a damn thing abt it.

 

[INDIAN007]

Looks Cool

 

[TenjikuKensei]

Engine Air intakes at the top AND bottom? ive never seen anything like this. hmnn. The front has tandem cockpit or side by side? if side by side, the front part of the plane is slightly reminiscent of the SU 34.

having said that...I believe most of the hype about nations making 6th generation planes are somewhat overly enthusiastic. The 5th generation has what? just one operational aircraft type as of yet in the whole world(f22). I believe that we would see quite a lot of planes in the 5th generation, 5+ generation range before we ever see a 6th generation plane prototype fly...and this includes America as well

nice color scheme though.

 

[Kinetic]

Looks like a small bomber someway similar to B-1 lancer.

 

[no_name]

Interesting top and bottom intakes. Maybe top is for conventional jet engine to accelerate plane to desired speed and bottom some sort of ramjet or scram jet for high speed dash?

edit: from this angle it looks like side-by-side seating.
I think this will be a rapid response weapon capable of anti-ship role if developed

 

[no_name]

Because once out of drawing board it would not be the latest anymore since by definition the latest plane is always on the drawing board.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Because once out of drawing board it would not be the latest anymore since by definition the latest plane is always on the drawing board.

haha clever answer.

I heard that the U.S. 6th gen concept plane is going to carry directed energy weapons. Would Chinese 6th gen equip something similar?

 

[no_name]

Well this is just a cg, and also there is no reason why this cannot be a 5th gen plane, afterall there are plenty of different 4th gen planes around.

This seems to me to be more of a fast strike/bomber aircraft designed to reduce risk of being intercepted. No reason why this could not have been developed as another 5th gen plane say after J-xx. They might even make it into an UAV.

 

[Akasa]

There were reports on a similar plane (also having the inlet on the dorsal side) being in development. The designation was originally called the J-16 (but that's only given to it by analysts). It's supposed to be a lightweight air superiority fighter, intended to serve alongside the J-13 and J-14.

Sources say it might enter service in 2018.

 

[Dragon Emperor]

Cool. I think this new plane is newly being conceptually designed this year. With sufficient funding, R&D on this 6th gen fighter will probably start next year and if more breakthtus in ultastealth tech and laser tech happens in the next 5 years, then it is possible the first prototype will fly by 2020 and enter service before 2024.

 

[Akasa]

Cool. I think this new plane is newly being conceptually designed this year. With sufficient funding, R&D on this 6th gen fighter will probably start next year and if more breakthtus in ultastealth tech and laser tech happens in the next 5 years, then it is possible the first prototype will fly by 2020 and enter service before 2024.

Laser tech? What is this? Star Wars? Laser tech on such a small platform is decades away. There's no way this new J-16 is going to sport a new "laser weapon".

Development is already in full swing.
In fact, some sources say that it's being flight tested right now.

The Chinese 6th-generation fighter is not a brand-new completely-different fighter. In fact, it is simply an enhanced 5th-generation fighter.

 

[topjumper]

they are having trouble matchin 4 gen fighters from russia and they are thinking of a 6th gen...

I can only laugh whenever I read one of these ignorant threads making claims about the generation of chinese fighters, they usual vary along the following themes: china is over ambitious and claiming to be leap-frogging one generation (from "3rd" to "5th" gen, or "4th" to "6th" gen); or china is utterly useless and it struggles to develop a "4th" gen fighter when the world is buzzing about "5th" gen fighters.

Seriously FSLN, why don't you do a little research first before you making some more ridiculous claims? The chinese classifies the generation of its planes based on its own development history, so when the chinese say "3rd" gen fighters it is the same as the 4th gen as the west (J-10, J-11, F-16 etc), and the chinese "4th" gen is the equivalent of the west's 5th gen (J-xx, F-22 etc). There isn't such a thing as China is try to go from "struggling to develop a 4th gen" to developing a 6th gen fighter.

Now please do all of us a favor, please go read around a little more before you making any more baseless claims.