The Chinese J-20 Mighty Dragon. Lights and Shadows.
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Support me on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/Millennium7
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----------------------------
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LearningTranscript
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04:12Analyzing
04:14an aircraft structure from the outside
04:16is always a game of
04:18conjectures, but we love it
04:20so let's do it!
04:22Structurally, it seems that the aircraft is built
04:24with a single central
04:26torsion box, with the
04:28bulkheads changing shape
04:30to accommodate the engines
04:32and the wingspars are probably blended
04:34with the rear bulkheads.
04:36The weapons bay is between
04:38this central box
04:40and the canards
04:42and since the weapons bay
04:44is an opening,
04:46the structural rigidity
04:48is actually compromised by
04:50the opening, either for
04:52torsion or for bending.
04:54Since the canards impose
04:56aerodynamic loads to the structure,
04:58placing the canard in
05:00that position means that
05:02either there have been
05:04some weight penalties to
05:06add material to restore the rigidity
05:08or maybe there are some
05:10limitations to the use of the canards.
05:12For example, a heavy
05:14asymmetric maneuver
05:16can place a heavy torsion
05:18load on the structure
05:20and basically bend or twist
05:22the aircraft. Half of the weight
05:24of the aircraft is aluminum,
05:26about 30% is titanium
05:28and only 20% is composites,
05:30so despite the fact that it is
05:32a relatively modern design,
05:34it is not one of those plastic planes.
05:36The J-20 seems to be
05:38covered in some sort of rather absorbing
05:40material, but the whole
05:42structure is definitely designed with
05:44stealth in mind. We have the classical
05:46ridge on the forward part of the fuselage,
05:48there is plan for alignment,
05:50there are no straight angles,
05:52all the four
05:54tail surfaces are canted
05:56outwards, the air intakes
05:58are diverterless intakes,
06:00the surface is
06:02relatively smooth, panels
06:04and openings are all serrated.
06:06All of these are classic stealth
06:08design features.
06:12And the obvious question is, why
06:14canards on a stealth design?
06:16These are usually very
06:18radar reflective features, because
06:20they have a straight angle with the
06:22fuselage and when they are close coupled, they
06:24promote the bouncing of
06:26electromagnetic radiation between
06:28the canards and the wing.
06:30In the case of the J-20 though,
06:32the canards have a
06:34very prominent dehydral
06:36and the fuselage
06:38at the insertion point
06:40is inclined
06:42downward. So it is impossible to say
06:44how stealth an aircraft is
06:46just by looking at it, but in this case
06:48it seems that the canard
06:50problem has been at least
06:52mitigated. It is also worth
06:54noting that from the side the aircraft profile
06:56is quite low.
06:58This means that the
07:00surface that is exposed to the
07:02radar energy
07:04is also relatively low
07:06if compared with the overall
07:08size of the aircraft.
07:16No, I'm really
07:18not covering this because there is
07:20too much confusion. So it seems
07:22that the aircraft is using two different types of
07:24engines and probably a third
07:26will be available from
07:282023 or 2025.
07:30But the names,
07:32the versions and the features
07:34of all these engines are
07:36basically all over the place. The one thing
07:38that seems certain is that
07:40the current aircraft doesn't have the
07:42final engine, so it
07:44should be considered underpowered.
07:46However, it seems to be
07:48underpowered in the same way the
07:50Su-57 is. Now
07:52it is very good, but in the
07:54future it will become great.
07:58...
08:00...
08:02We do have some official numbers
08:04derived from some
08:06signs at the latest
08:08expo where the J-20
08:10has been present,
08:12but that's hardly a
08:14reliable source.
08:16I still think we should procure the manuals, sir.
08:18Otis, don't you have anything
08:20else to do? No, sir.
08:22Ok, while you're here, please
08:24show the specification, but no more
08:26hacking, ok?
08:28...
08:30...
08:32...
08:34...
08:36...
08:38...
08:40...
08:42...
08:44...
08:46...
08:48...
08:50While some information has emerged
08:52during the years about the sensors
08:54on the systems, we still have a sketchy
08:56picture. For example, we don't know about
08:58the sensor fusions, or the electronic
09:00warfare capabilities, even though
09:02we know that the aircraft is
09:04equipped with an indigenous data link.
09:06The cockpit is a modern
09:08all-glass cockpit, with
09:10a large panoramic head-up
09:12display, integrated with the helmet
09:14mounted display.
09:16The helmet can be used to display
09:18the images from a distributed
09:20aperture system, with
09:22four sensors, two
09:24on the front of the aircraft, near
09:26the cockpit, and two on the back of the
09:28aircraft. These DAS systems are
09:30becoming increasingly common, sir.
09:32Yeah, yeah, it's
09:34true, Otis, even though
09:36the pilot's response
09:38has been lukewarm at
09:40times. The configuration of
09:42the other optical systems is not
09:44entirely clear, because
09:46the sources differ.
09:48The aircraft has
09:50a chin-mounted
09:52optical window that
09:54really looks like
09:56the F-35
09:58IOTS, but it
10:00should house an infrared search
10:02and track, because we have
10:04Chinese sources mentioning
10:06an IRST, and
10:08there's pretty much no other place
10:10where it could be housed.
10:12Some other sources mention two separate
10:14systems, one called an IOTS,
10:16and the other one, the infrared search and track.
10:18I personally think the first
10:20one is correct, but we don't know
10:22for sure. The radar is
10:24an AESA system credited with a
10:26large number of elements,
10:28up to 2,000 according to some
10:30sources, and
10:32it is believed to have
10:34really good performances.
10:36Some analysts believe that
10:38the aircraft may have side-looking
10:40and rear-facing antennas,
10:42but yet we have
10:44no confirmation of that.
10:46In the same way, there are several
10:48panels on the J-20
10:50that could be antenna housing,
10:52but their function is
10:54actually unknown. Chaffs and
10:56Flares dispensers are mounted
10:58in the fairings at the roof
11:00of the vertical stabilizers,
11:02and in the same fairings
11:04there seems to be even more
11:06antennas, that we
11:08can only suppose that are related
11:10to the electronic warfare and the
11:12radar warning systems,
11:14but again, their
11:16exact function is unknown.
11:24The aircraft doesn't have a cannon,
11:26and all the armament
11:28is stored in the
11:30ventral main bay and in two smaller
11:32side bays. There are four
11:34underwing hardpoints,
11:36but they have never been seen
11:38carrying anything other
11:40than fuel tanks for
11:42ferry flights. The main
11:44role of the J-20 seems to be air
11:46superiority, and the weapons of choice
11:48are the PL-12
11:50medium range and the PL-15
11:52long range missiles.
11:54Four units can be carried
11:56in the main bay.
11:58We know that the Chinese have achieved supersonic
12:00payload separation, so definitely
12:02these missiles
12:04can benefit from
12:06a launch at high speed. The new PL-21,
12:08which is a long range
12:10air breathing weapon, seems
12:12also to be compatible with
12:14the J-20. The two
12:16side bays house
12:18one PL-10 each.
12:20It is an infrared guided
12:22short range weapon.
12:24There is a curious detail here,
12:26the side bays
12:28close immediately after
12:30exposing the weapon, leaving
12:32it hanging from the side of the
12:34aircraft just before the launch.
12:36The air-to-ground weapon seems
12:38to be limited to the
12:40smaller representatives
12:42of the LS family.
12:44These are pretty much the
12:46standard guided bombs in service
12:48with the Chinese Air Force.
12:50These are gliding bombs, and there are
12:52various versions, either with
12:54inertial guidance, GPS
12:56guidance or laser guidance.
12:58You may have noticed that
13:00the panoply available to the J-20
13:02is actually relatively limited.
13:04From this relatively
13:06limited variety of weapons
13:08it seems justified
13:10the assumption that the J-20 is
13:12designed to snipe
13:14at the high value assets
13:16of the Western Air Forces, like
13:18the AWACS, the
13:20electronic reconnaissance aircraft,
13:22the tankers, and so on.
13:24It really seems reasonable
13:26that the main mission of the J-20
13:28is to stacking
13:30the typical force
13:32multipliers available to a
13:34modern air force. And another
13:36possible target to snipe at long
13:38distance are the
13:40air-to-ground assets of an
13:42attacking force, which won't
13:44be capable of defending themselves
13:46at long range. In both
13:48these scenarios, the
13:50capability of getting relatively close
13:52to the target thanks to stealth
13:54but also using long-range
13:56weapons, well, just makes sense.
13:58In the same way, it makes sense to use
14:00the aircraft to attack high-paying
14:02ground targets with
14:04precision-guided weapons, which
14:06is basically also the mission where
14:08stealth actually shines.
14:10And the flip side of this approach is
14:12that the actual air combat
14:14is probably best left to the
14:16flankers, and China
14:18has a lot of them. And
14:20if you want to learn more about the Chinese
14:22Air Force, please click on the videos
14:24that are going to appear beside me.
14:26In the meanwhile, thank you very
14:28much for watching, and see you there!