052D #175,

There were two 093 built, right? Then years after we got three more, but of which variant? mixed 093a and 093b? or all 093a? How many 093A are there?

093 was essentially a failure. By all accounts it was too loud. 093A seem to be a minor upgrade. In total there are only 2 093/093A subs from what I understood. But the are at least 3 093B subs. 4 according to some accounts. Looks like the 093B has reached acceptable noise levels. So 2x 093/093A and 3x 093B (maybe 4).

After the 093B reveal, 054A (FFG-571), Sub-rescuer (ASR-863) and for the 1st time a 093A spotted passing the “Strait of Malacca”.

Hi-res versions – (2378 x 1750)

why you think F-16A cost $5m and F-16E cost $100m. are they the same?.***

Off-course not. It is a new upgraded variant of the F-16. Not a new design. F-35 is a the new clean-sheet design. Same goes to the Jump from F-15A/B to F-15E to F-22. F-22 is the new clean sheet design. PAK-FA/T-50 is the new clean sheet design not the Su-35S no-matter the changes the Su-35S gone through from the original T-10S. Even if they designed the J-10A with pencil and paper and the J-10C on a super-computer does not make the J-10C a new design. New Manufacturing techniques, materials, structural modifications, avionics, blah, blah, blah does not make it a new clean sheet design.

we don’t even know what j-11d is. Is it an upgrade package? Will existing j11b going to be remanufactured? Will they all be newlybuilt? SAC was busy with J11b programme until 2014 or so. Since then it’s been running parallel J16 and J15 production. There’s really no room at SAC to bring j11d production alongside all that right now, no new production halls have been built there. So my guess is either j16 production will give way to j11d or more production capacity will be brought online in the coming 2-3 years so both types can be made at the same time. The former seems less likely to me as it’d mean only several years of j16 production, whereas demand for q5 replacement is higher.

Here is Hui Tong’s opinion – http://chinese-military-aviation.blogspot.com/p/fighters-ii.html#J-11D

So, J-11D will be newly manufactured with not only avionics but also structural changes and better engines. I guess they could upgrade the J-11B radar and some avionics to a similar standard as the J-11D and call it J-11BD (J-8D was upgraded to J-8F standard as J-8DF). But we haven’t heard much about the J-11D. So far only 2 prototype are flying (1101, 1102).

IR suppression from which angle? And which part?

If it is the nozzle, then directly from behind not even the B-2, F-117, YF-23 and F-22 have any kind of suppression (at least officially) – I found this old post – Link to Post

B-2, F-117, YF-23 (non-A/B) tries to reduce the IR signature around the nozzle when viewing from the certain other angles (eg. from the ground) but those are very elaborate methods. YF-23 has something like 100+ specially placed tiles in each nozzle for that – Link to Image.

What elaborate method does the F-35 have to hide its IR signature from the nozzle like the B-2 or YF-23? :confused: :confused: :confused: