Look, I have no doubt a 5th-gen engine is being developed, but it’ll probably be a while (post 2020?) before it’s operational. After all they just fielded WS-10 last year.

Some of the more knowledgable people have said they expect it to be ready by 2015. I think that’s a bit optimistic, so factoring in some delays I think WS-15 should be ready before 2020 (2017-2019?). Around the time the general said the J-XX with “4S” should enter service.

WS-15 began development before WS-10 began operating from J-11Bs btw, just like how what would become the J-20 began development before the J-10 entered service ~2004.
Also the guys developing WS-15 (Xi’an) seem to be more competent than WS-10 (Shenyang Liming), with the latter’s delays having to do with quality control issues and the like. I suppose we’ll see with time when WS-15 gets mated with the J-20.

From the RuAF thread:

😎

In any case wasn’t there some rumour that the final engines for J-20 are going to be larger than those currently fitted?

Lol now those engines just look butt ugly 😮

Err I’m not sure about the dimensions of the WS-15, but it definitely won’t be smaller than the current “WS-1X” on the J-20 prototypes.

Well size matters. Look at the size of the engines on the PAK FA compared to the rest of the fuselage, they are SCARY!

If you’ll allow me to indulge a bit more… :p

Mod Edit: This image was too large for this forum. Please re-post in a smaller size, or provide a link instead.

All the engines for the big 3 look similar in size relative to their airframes… I think the PAK FA’s rear/underside is just more exposed/rounded like the flanker’s under/rear side which contributes to the “scary” look. I think it looks rather graceless tbh, but whatever floats your boat 😮

I believe it’s the ventral bay door since you can see the folding panels and the hydraulic actuator.

And I doubt the side bay can hold two SRAAMs. At any rate, the J-20 just doesn’t look like a dog fighter anyway, not much of a point to carry more SRAAMs.

Hmm I recall super manouverability was one of the four S’s of this fighter from that inerview General He Weirong gave about two years back.
I don’t get why people say the J-20 doesn’t look like a dogfighter, is it because it looks long or something (or is it those blogs on aviation week and flight global)? I personally think the LERX and canard combo give it a really agile appearance, and considering J-20 is meant to compete with the best of the best (F-22) it’s kind of wishful thinking by some of those bloggers to think it’s just a big interceptor. :/
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For the J-20’s side bay, do you guys think there is just one door which flips upward or two, with another which flips down like the F-22’s?
And the ventral bay door still doesn’t look right — it has a very flimsy appearance, with the supposed actuator which is visible. I think that might just be a piece of equipment one of the maintenance men brought with them next to the landing gear door.

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Actually, scratch that — there is definitely the ventral bay which is opened. Other pictures show maintenance crew having to duck underneath the belly of the beast, but that picture starikki posted clearly shows two men standing perfectly well under the aircraft… which means their heads must be inside the weapons bay.

😀

^ NICE — is that from today/yesterday’s flight?

Omg these pictures are so <3

TROLOLOL nice…

Is that berlusconi in the picture with gaddafi? 😛

If AMCA is slated for IOC at 2025+, I think that’s a realistic deadline… I hope they don’t set an overly ambitious date.

I meant the LCA was delayed, in general, not by DRDO or anyone in particular (and I know these projects get delayed all over the world, etc etc).
All I’m saying is that they had… some problems with LCA and they’ll have their work cut out with AMCA. I don’t want to go any further than that, because I obviously am not well acquainted with the Indian defense industry and I wouldn’t have much to say on the matter which I haven’t already.

Ah an internet user with zero credentials warn DRDO against moving onto bigger things than Tejas.

They are already moving on, with the AMCA.

I do hope DRDO apply lessons learnt from the LCA to the AMCA, and it will be interesting to see how well they transition.

But personally just from their track record it wouldn’t be unjustifiable to be more on the pessimestic and optimistic side.

When and why was the MCA turned into the “A”MCA btw? I thought the acronym LCA to MCA was quite elegant and when they eventually made a heavy fighter it could’ve been HCA 😀