Search the Community

Well, to put things simply, I'm glad to finally get this thread, as this will mark me being able to cover all aspects of the PLA in detail and to link them all up content wise, so away we go! Well, this thread will obviously deal about the 1 area that hasn't been covered yet, which is of course the Air Force and Airborne, a bit into the past, and most the present and future, without further ago, I'd like to start off with aircraft designs, with a majority focus on local designs, without further ado, lets begin shall we? The current primary air-to-air fighter - The J-10B Full fuel load plus various weapons. Underside shot with x1 extra fuel tank and loaded with ordnance. Back shot showing the use of rear mounting space. Basically, people are speculating for days how good the J-20 and J31 will be, what roles they'll fill, how much of a threat they'll be, etc etc, that's all well and good, but regardless, for the time being, the J-10B is the backbone of the PLAAF's Multirole fighter divisions. While the J-10B is certainly an older design, It is by consequence one that's had more production time and time to come out with further updates and big fixing, which has resulted in a very solid all around design. As for the design itself, It's a single engine, single seat (not counting trainer variants) design that uses a tailless canard delta design, though a large delta wing is mounted towards the rear of the fuselage with an accompanying pair of canards mounted directly below and slightly behind the cockpit. the design is made from various, fairly rare light weight, high strength metal alloys and composite arrays which, while increasing the cost somewhat, gives it a light weight frame without sacrificing strength or toughness. Also, due to the delta-canard style airframe design and the unstable airframe (I just said colli's favorite phrase next to "nuclear fusion"), It's also equipped with a redundant fly by wire system that prevent the very tight turn capable design from literally disabling or destroying itself at high speeds. The frame itself comes by default with up to 11 hard points, however this can be increased to up to 15 when the mission requires it, as for the Avionics, while no huge specifics are known about it, It has 3 LCD multi function displays linked to a helmet mounted sight featuring a holographic heads up display and visual targeting. During the switch from the A to B variant, the nose mounted radar has been switched to an improved AESA design, which are all the rage in the PLA (and other militaries) right now. and a far more powerful radar unit in itself at that. Other improvements from the A to B include: a more powerful, reliable engine variant, radar absorbent material applied throughout the aircraft aswell as cutting off some sharp edges for smoothed out angles, an Electronic warfare and EMP package, a divertless supersonic inlet, and IRST sensor to give more options on tracking targets, a MAW, RAM coated Canopy, and a completely replaced set of internal electronics with a new generation of solid state electronics. So basically, the J-10B sort of is the unsung hero of the skies over China while people instead pay attention to newer, shinier things. Specifications. Length - 51 Feet/ 15.50 meters Wingspan - 32 Feet/9.75 meters Height - 17.80 Feet/5.43 meters Wing Area - 356.3 Feet²/33.1 meters² Weight (Empty) - 21,500pounds/9,750 kilograms. Weight (Loaded) - 28,600 pounds/12,400 kilograms Maximum Takeoff Weight - 42,500 lb/19,277 kilograms Top Speed - Mach 2.2 at Altitude, Mach 1.2 Sea level. Range - 1,600 km with Airborne refueling, 1,100 km without. Ferry range - 2,000 Miles/3,200 kilometers. Service Ceiling - 60,000 feet. Maximum G loading - +10/-3 Armament/Loadout Options. - x1 Twin barreled 23x115mm cannon, 3,600 rounds per minute. Options for - (might cut out some older variants to save space) 90mm unguided rocket pods. PL-9C Short range Air to Air missiles PL-12B/PL-12D Long range Air to Air missiles LD-10 Anti radiation missiles. YJ-9K Anti Ship missiles. PL-9 Air to surface missiles. GB2/3 family of Precision guided bombs. LS6 "Standoff" Guided glide bombs. FT1 Satellite guided bombs. Standard 250kg and 500kg unguided bombs. Up to 3 external drop tanks for extended range. --------------- Welp, that took longer then I thought, but I'm glad I have the 4 threads I really want down now, I plan to update all of them if there's interest and when I feel like I can. Anyway, later, more planes, helos, and the Airborne coming. Be sure to check my other topics covering the other branches of the PLA. http://sturgeonshous...d-units-thread/- Regarding Infantry, small arms, and infantry support weapons. http://sturgeonshous...w-with-content/- Regarding land based vehicles, armor, and weapon systems http://sturgeonshous...vy-and-marines/- Regarding the Navy, Marines, and Weapons used by them and also land based anti ship defense systems.