I’m also interested in that. Maybe he meant that DSI inlets could pose a limitation on higher mach numbers? Or is it something completely different…?

Sounded more like he meant the PAK FA’s intake had some positive quality on it’s own

Check out photos of the lift-off for the first flight. As with the F-16’s leading edge flaps, the upward deflection angle is very small compared to maximum downward, but it’s definitely there.

http://paralay.com/pakfasu/314.jpg

Ah yes, I forgot about that photo thanks. Is it safe to say that is about as much as it can deflect upwards?

EDIT

Notice the slight movement upwards – Link-1, Link-2

Ty — hmm yes the deflection was always so small I’ve never noticed in existing photos. Cheers.

What’s exactly secret about the intakes, if anyone can translate?

Also does anyone know if the PAK FA’s levcons, or if levcons in general can rotate upwards? (I believe I’ve only seen it rotating down before).

Exactly! This is my point.

The goal of J-11B is not to be better than J-11 (and in my opinion it is not) but to be all Chinese.

What aspects of J-11B, in your opinion makes it inferior to J-11(A)? :confused:

And thanks everybody for info on Chinese Air Force, but allow me to take them with a little bit of skepticism, not as a granted facts, ok? 🙂

Of course, it’s your opinion — but imho there are certain “facts” (some of which could change over time) that one must take for granted if one is to properly talk about the PLAAF (like J-11B’s advancements over J-11A, maturation of WS-10A engines, and the fact that J-20 is definitely not a mock up).

My point is that they have made stunning progress anyway. But you can progress that fast as it is showed.

Look at other Asian countries.
South Korea – first F-16 license, later the T-50 that fits somewhere between combat aircrafts and trainers.

Japan – F-15 license for many years, later not so successful F-2.

India – the Su-30 license and lots of experience on upgrades, but Tejas seems to fit same class as combat T-50

Those countries had full support of US, Russia and/or other countries aviation industries (the landing gear of T-50 was designed by Dassault).

At same time the Chinese would develop such a growth in isolation?

Yes, more or less. Building and J-7 upgrades, building and J-8 upgrades, JH-7/A, J-10, Flanker experience and eventually building their own etc…

You still have to do your own research and tests even if you’re building off a known airframe, especially if no one else is there to help you.
I’m not quite sure what you are getting at — are you implying that the Chinese industry had no foreign help (as opposed to other countries in the region) therefore their progress we see now is either A: unexpected, B: faked, C: stolen?

And for J-20, it confuses me. First I thought that it is just a mock-up, now I still consider it to be flying mock-up, but really I don’t know what to think about it.

I think it might confuse you even more when it gets into service around 2018 :p

And compare progress in civil aviation, if they would be so advanced they should at least try to develop some regional jet like Suchoj Super Jet, instead they will assemble A320.

Heard of ARJ-21 and COMAC 919? But it’s true that the whole chinese aerospace industry is not suited for building larger transport aircraft.

It appears to have the minor detail such as pitot tube (or some form of antenna) on the nose, as well as smaller air inlet ports and ‘bumps’ underneath the wing which may house moving parts inside, so could be at an advanced stage of ground testing a flying prototype?

I think it isn’t a mock up, and they might be testing something on the underside of the aircraft, but haven’t advanced to flying it (or flying and testing it) yet.

I’m sure it’ll look awesme in the air, first time a real prototype with this kind of wing config.

Is it just me or does that engine exhaust oulet appear to be triangular?

Yep. This aircraft is getting more unique with every look…

how do u think rafale will handle advanced J-20s, J-10s and JF-17s since those are India’s primary threats?

Careful…

On a one to one basis Rafale should be more capable than the current block of JF-17 and J-10A. With J-10B and future blocks of JF-17s (we’ve all heard talk of semi stealth and souped up avionics) imho the gap should shrink a bit.
With J-20 — well we know nothing about how this plane flies. But seeing as the intention from the start was to match the F-22’s performance as close as possible (and it is one they seem fairly confident in achieving in due time) you could use that as a benchmark.

And that is my wary response to the potentially flammable question 🙂