New Chinese stealthy LRS?

The Aviationist has pictures of what could possibly be a new Chinese stealthy long range strike aircraft. It's an interesting design, with aspects of the YF-23. It's not clear whether this will just be a model, or if it's a leaked design. China has leaked designs at exhibitions in the past, so this might be a case of them doing that again, or it could just be a model that was built to show a potential design.

One of the interesting aspects is that it appears they changed the placement of the intakes between the computer design and the model. In the computer design they are located on top of the fuselage, but they appear to be moved down under the fuselage in the model (although it's hard to tell for sure).

True or false? A model plane or just the base of a future radar evading attack plane?

Hard to say.

For sure, the shape of this alleged LRS (long range strike) stealth aircraft is intriguing and shows input from several existing U.S. planes, including the F-117 Nighthawk and the YF-23. Furthermore, some of Beijing’s works were leaked in the form scale models during local exhibitions hence, even if unlikely, it is not completely impossible that the one depicted in the photographs and artwork above is the Chinese answer to the Russian sixth-generation pilotless strategic bomber based on the PAK-DA or the American X-51, Falcon HTV-2 and other hypersonic development programs on which U.S.’s perspective strike capability will be based.

China is working a lot on stealth planes.

Last month, few hours before the U.S. Navy launched the the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator off the deck of an aircraft carrier for the first time, images of China’s first weaponized stealth drone emerged from the Chinese Internet.

theaviationist.com...

Looks like one of the Lockheed SS-UCAS designs... I'll try to dig up a pic

Obviously FB-23 influence as well...



Here's the one I was looking for.

Photo: The U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin long-range strike (LRS) Aircraft. Lockheed Martin produced this impression of a long-range strike (LRS) design for the U.S. Air Force in 2007, before a secrecy clampdown banned contractors from discussing the program in public (Photo by hitechweb.genezis.eu).

reply to post by Zaphod58


What is the tail marking on the model in the first pic? It looks US.

reply to post by Magister


It's the red "star and bar" that they use.

On the J-10:

oops

reply to post by Zaphod58


Just more blind copying of US technology!

reply to post by Zaphod58


And we're cutting Defense why exactly?

reply to post by Zaphod58


Ahhh! Thanks!

reply to post by Zaphod58


Here figured this might help. My only complaint is the pilot cant see very well with this design though that can be made up for with an outstanding avionics package but thats not one of the chinese strong points.But on the plus side they can probably build an oxygen system to allow the pilots to breath unlike the F22.

New pictures show second Chinese stealth fighter being test flown

It has to be an official photographer because nobody else can get that close to the airplane," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. "These are all publicity photos from the factory, and I could not imagine that the factory would publicize these things without somebody higher up in the food chain authorizing it."
The J-31 is designed to have a stealthy shape. "From the side profile, it really looks like a 75% (scale) F-22 from the bottom, and the top profile it very much looks like an F-35."

The J-31 may have the stealth coatings that help it absorb radar signals instead of letting them bounce off and give away its position.

But Pike explained the plane has wide seams where different parts of the plane come together. "The seams form something the radar can bounce off of. I'm looking at some close-ups of the J-31 and it's seamy. It's got all kinds of seams and ripples on the skin."

reply to post by dragonridr


They are two earlier aircraft, not the project in the OP. Your upper image shows the J-31 and the lower one shows the J-20

Are those not two different aircraft?

the 3 images on the right, and the black model at top left appear to correlate

but the 3 images of the yellow model appear to be totally separate aircraft, clean upper surface, different tail, different wing shape, different nose

reply to post by maintainright


It might be a redesign of the black aircraft, it's not clear.

I do like the air inlets above the aircraft, faster airflow on lifting body types, less fod ingestion (not that you would be using these from austeire landing strips and less invasive to any radar below you.

reply to post by Antonio1


Well because we built the F-22 and the YF-23 in the 90's.

China is working on that type of aircraft when we have fighters that are tailless aircraft being developed. They are still a couple decades behind us I think, but closing in rather quickly.

I can only imagine the level creative thought it took to produce this new design from China.

I mean it's not like it is nearly identical to a Lockheed design from the 80's

Originally posted by IamSirDrinksalot
I do like the air inlets above the aircraft, faster airflow on lifting body types, less fod ingestion (not that you would be using these from austeire landing strips and less invasive to any radar below you.

I'm not sure that increasing the velocity of air intake into the engines would be all that beneficial, to the best of my knowledge intake ducts are designed to slow air below mach 1 for a reason. A key example being the SR-71.