With regards to Spain, most announcements said they would join in “observer” role.

the container of the missile 48N6 has a diameter of ~ 1 meter
container UKSK – 0.72 m

Which is why i said “some variant of UKSK”. I mentioned UKSK-M, though I don’t know what it will look like. Sometimes one can read it will include SAMs as well. Perhaps it’s more likely they mean that’ll include Redut system rather than S-400. Still, I am talking about a possible future variant of universal VLS. Chinese pulled it off with their VLS cells having inner diameter of some 81 cm or something like that. HHQ-9 is closer in dimensions to 5V55 round than to 48N6, though. But point is, outer diameter of 48N6 container is not the same thing as inner diameter.

Anyway, we’re getting beside the point.

That would be the fins, what else could it be?

Fins on 48N6 do fold… I am still not understanding the retractable comment.

To get back to the topic: The important question is whether this image attached below is legit or a fanboy made graphic? Can anyone track it down, where did it start circulating? Answering that may help answer the question of 40N6 being same size as 48N6.

What you, Paralay, suggest with your drawings, looks more like the 77N6 missile rumored for S-500 with a different booster. Further complicating the matters is the rumor of 40N6M, a missile allegedly designed for S-500, with similar body to baseline 40N6, but with added booster and possibly different front section, possibly a separate stage front section.

[quote]The missile 48N6 has one level and a range of 150 – 250 km
40Н6, presumably, two steps and a range of 400 km[/quote]

Why presume 40N6 is a two stage missile? What basis is there for it?

We can assume the infographic is fake, sure. But if we assume it is correct then we have the container dimensions and weight of missile suggesting the missile is basically very similar to 48n6.

Furthermore, if we take the image shown as accurate, one can see that is a single stage missile.

I don’t speak much Russian but I’ll try:

Maximum range 380 km
Maximum range against ballistic missiles of MRBM class 15 km
Minimum range 5 km
Maximum altitude 30 km
Minimum altitude 100 m
Average speed of missile during flight 1190 m/s
Mass of the container with missile: 2600 kg
Mass of the missile: 1893 kg
Dimensions of the container 7825mm long, 1000mm in diameter
Lifespan of missile sealed in container: 15 years

My Russian is pretty bad. I am trying to read the original text to see just what they mean, because the blog entry talking about it isn’t very clear. Is the contract to actually put new engines into su30sm or is the contract only for R&D of integrating the engines with Su-30SM? The wording on the blog seems like the latter is more likely. And certainly at least *some* R&D would be needed, as those engines aren’t simply interchangable with Al-31, however similar they are.

https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/newsbae-typhoon-retrofit-2/

this suggests 43 T1 Typhoons got the upgrade for Paveways.

Which brings me to another question: have any of the RAF’s Typhoons so far been conserved/stored?

Allegedly 149 Typhoons of all tranches have been delivered to RAF so far. Some have been lost in accidents, but are also some just not used actively?

One can still try to model the production rate based on other programs, like ones in the West. Like with the plans for F-22 production 6-10 production representative airframes, or pre-serials, delivered during a single year. (we’d have to find out which year that was) Then 10-16 airframes in the second year after that, IF all goes smoothly. Then 16-20 airframes in the year after. Year after could do 24 airframes, give or take, and subsequent years 30+ airframes, IF There is even demand for so many.

Evidently, it’s just conjecture and it’s a highly dubious way of counting. But given that the alternative is zero actual information on actual j-20 production, it may be worth at least something.

That “year 1” might be somewhere between 2016 and 2017. But even that’s not 100% sure. If one is to use the lower end of mentioned ranges then one could get something like this:
2016: 6
2017: 10
2018: 16
2019: ~24

The above might mean there’s some 20-24 J-20 flying within PLAAF right now. Which actually isn’t that implausible, since we do know some J-20 have been used in an actual front line squadron mission and there have been rumors of them serving with the 9th Air Brigade. In addition to that, J20s also first joined two other bases, for tactics development and training. So it’s plausible there’s several airframes per each of those basis, possibly even a dozen for conversion training alone as such tasks are hard to do on just a few airframes. Final tally of 20-24 doesn’t seem as too high of an estimate in that case.

How many mirages of which type does that leave in French air Force?