Recently, a netizen (@Oneninety) posted a photo on social media that appeared to be taken during a test flight of the J-35 prototype. Although many test flight photos have been leaked recently due to the frequent test flights of the J-35, the picture is not very clear. , but because of the oblique perspective of this picture and the reflective effect of the fuselage, the amount of information that can be revealed is still small...
Source @Oneninety
First of all, the bulge under the belly of the J-35 prototype in the picture is suspected to be hanging. Installed Longbo lens diffuser. The reason why stealth fighters need to be equipped with Longbo lenses has two main functions: 1. When the stealth fighter is flying under non-combat conditions, it facilitates air traffic control radar detection and avoids accidents; 2. Covers the stealth fighter's RCS ( radar reflection cross section ) parameters to avoid leaking the true stealth performance of the fighter jet.
J-35’s Longbo lens
J-20’s Longbo lens
In the past few years, we have often seen the J-20 fighter jet with a Longbo lens hanging under the belly in many scenes, but we have not seen it. The FC-31 "Falcon Eagle" demonstration aircraft has this lens, and now the J-35 prototype is also equipped with a Longbo lens during test flights, indicating that the aircraft may already have stealth performance similar to the J-20. It needs Only by hanging a Longbo lens can air traffic control radar detect it. This is undoubtedly a huge improvement.
Su-57 rivets
F-22 close-up
Then the smoothness of the surface of the fighter fuselage is usually used by military fans as one of the criteria to simply judge the craftsmanship of the fighter aircraft. For example, the Su-57 aircraft has always been criticized for its rough workmanship. There are large exposed rivets everywhere on the body (as shown in the picture). The F-22 and F-35 also occasionally have exposed rivets and damaged or wrinkled fuselage coatings. The J-20’s fuselage surface is from beginning to end. All very smooth.
Close-up of the nose of the J-20
In the test flight pictures, you can see the reflection of the fuselage of the J-35 prototype. Through the reflection, you can see that the fuselage of the aircraft is very smooth, which is 1.0 better than the previous FC-31 "Falcon Eagle" The uneven fuselage at the air intake is much smoother (as shown in the picture), which also shows that the fuselage technology of the J-35 prototype has also made great progress compared with the " Falcon ".
In addition, after comparing the early J-35 prototype pictures with the "Falcon Eagle" 1.0/"Falcon Eagle" 2.0 technology verification machine, it can be found that the J-35 prototype is equipped with an EOTS (photoelectric Targeting system), this is the world's third stealth fighter equipped with EOTS after the J-20 and F-35; the opening method of the J-35 canopy has also been changed from the backward flip of the "Falcon Eagle" 2.0 to similar to the F-35. The forward flip of the -35C, I wonder if the forward flip is more suitable for the carrier-based aircraft ...
J-35 model
In addition, in the past, the "Falcon Eagle" has been criticized by military fans for being too small and has been improved. The J-35 prototype The size of the front part of the fuselage has become larger, making it look more powerful. In addition, even if there is still airspeed tube (actually for the convenience of test flights), the J-35's active phased array radar (AESA) is definitely gone. After all, we already have at least 3 fighters using this radar. , this technology is already very mature in our country.
J-35 prototype tail nozzle
Of course, the J-35 will definitely not always use the RD-93 engine . In fact, the early J-35 prototype pictures have already shown this, because the engine used by the J-35 prototype The tail nozzle is double-layer serrated, which is different from the tail nozzle of the previous "Falcon" 1.0/2.0 engine. That is to say, the engine currently used by the J-35 is neither RD-93 nor the early turbofan-13E. It may be a stealth-improved version of the WS-13E.
J-35 fighter CG picture
Finally, according to the military aircraft naming rules issued by the "aviation industry" before, the carrier-based aircraft should be called "some shark" or "some shark", then the J-35 fighter after the "flying shark" What is the name of a shark that is a -35 stealth carrier aircraft?
