MoskitBeautiful KJ-2000 AWACS photo. Look at the size of the AESA radar.
MoskitRemembering American pilots.
Statues of “fighting tigers” in WWII alluring visitors
A vivid, life-like relief sculpture wall featuring scenarios of a squadron of courageous American pilots during the World War II has been erected in Kunming, the capital city of southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
The feat is meant to mark the 60th anniversary of the victory over the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggressors (1937-1945).
During World War II, American General Claire Lee Chennault, commander of the US 14th Air Fleet I and a true friend of the Chinese people, organized US pilot volunteers into a squadron renowned as the invincible “Flying Tigers” to airlift arms, weaponry and other war-time goods to help China in its struggles against Japanese aggressors.
The US volunteers opened up a historical air corridor from India to the cities of Kunming and Chongqing in southwestern China via Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). During their fierce encounters with Japanese air force, some young air “tigers” lost their lives, whose remains have been searched for the past five decades by locals in China’s southwestern mountainous regions.
The 150-by-four meters relief sculpture wall, is erected on Minhang Road of Kunming, where Flying Tigers used to overhaul and maintain their fighters, according to Yu Chuan, the chief designerof the relief sculpture wall.
Scenarios on the wall include the arrival of the Flying Tigers, Chinese soldiers and civilians building the airport during the WWII, the scene of people cheering the victory of their first battle, Chinese civilians rescuing members of the Flying Tigers, as well as a huge image of General Claire Lee Chennault.
A local official said the wall would soon become a new popular tourist attraction in Kunming, also known as a “city of spring”.
Source: Xinhua
MoskitMe thinks…All the deep license stuff is good for the next 5-7 years at best, after that the N-011M will be quite jaded (there is only so much you can upgrade your MC/DSP/RDP etc) and they WILL be working on ‘reworking’ the contract to accomodate whatever NIIP can come up with and what DRDO can bring to the table. Indian AESA (with some form of 64 bit Core Avoinic Computer) in the next 10 years is not so unthinkable given the work done by CABS/LRDE on the LCA MMR and AEW, so it by 2012 there will be much discussion about whats good for the ‘last few batches of the MKI’.
All this assumes that PAK-FA will still be a pipe dream in 2012…if that is in flight testing by then, then perhaps an ageing N011M on the last MKI will be acceptable in anticipation of the PAK-FA. But then what goes on the LCA goes on the MKI=what goes on the PAK-FA goes on the MKI too …who knows…but N011M is PAR is certainly not the end of the story.
But Russia will probably ask for extra money for upgrading the Su-30MKI with new radars and more powerful engines. Having paid a considerable sum for the N-011M Bars and the AL-31FP, will India discard them after only 7 years?
Moskitlooks like the mig 1.44…
BTW can anyone post up a pic of mig 1.44 so we can compare!
What Hyperwarp posted is a picture of CFD testing. China has been studying different XXJ designs. It doesn’t mean that the XXJ will definitely look like that. We don’t know what the XXJ will look like.
MoskitJust got the new Trumpeter kit of the J-10A …. who want to take a look here’s a complete review (in German) !
http://www.flugzeugforum.de/forum/showthread.php?t=22182&page=1&pp=10
But that was not the reason for posting here. I ended my review with a comparison to the new Revell made Eurofighter Typhoon kit in the same scale:
Just take a look …. 😉 …. and I hope these notorious “it is just like a Lavi”-discussions will end !
Cheers, Deino 😀
I agree. The J-10 actually resembles the Eurofighter. Of course, the Eurofighter was designed around 2 smaller EJ-200 engines while China designed the J-10 around one big WS-10A engine.
But obviously the J-10 is not copied from the Eurofighter. The Eurofighter, J-10, Rafale and Gripen all have advanced canard-delta designs.
In my opinion the Gripen is the weakest of the 4 current canard-delta designs. Despite having great avionics the Gripen is a small fighter that has only one small engine.
MoskitLooks pretty PS’ed. The balance beam is disproportionately large and the bars it is resting on are disporportionately long for the rest of the aircraft.
The phased array radar on the Y-8 is bigger than the Erieye radar. And the radar is mounted high to get a clear view over the wings of the Y-8.
The current Y-8 test bed is an older version of the Y-8. But the mass production version of the Y-8 AWACs will probably use a new version of the Y-8 aircraft, possibly with new 6 bladed engines for even better range and endurance.
MoskitSo this new APAR goes on the RAC Mig Light fighter? No T-50/MKI/MKK apps?
Isn’t India stuck with the N-011M Bars radar? The Indian media says that the Su-30MKI contract is a deep license that includes manufacturing a fixed number of N-011M Bars radars and AL-31FP engines in India. So isn’t India stuck with the N-011M Bars radar and AL-31FP engine?
If India wants to upgrade to better radars and engines, wouldn’t Russia charge India even more money in addition to what India is paying for the existing deep license?
MoskitThe KJ-2000 AWACs could be an AESA system.
There’s a rumor that China has already built five KJ-2000 AWACs. China will probably build large numbers of AWACs. The Il-76 airframes are cheap. The AWACs system is Chinese technology and China can build as many as it wants.
MoskitThe phased array radar on the Y-8 AWACs is bigger than the one on the Erieye. And the Y-8’s phased array radar is mounted high to get a clear view over the wings of the Y-8.
The Y-8 is a good platform. Good range, payload and endurance and plenty of room for command equipment.
MoskitI prefer to look at the aircraft as a whole.
For example, the Mirage 2000 and LCA are 3rd generation airframe designs, but they can be equipped with 4th generation avionics. So the Mirage 2000 and the LCA are 3.5 generation fighters.
The Gripen and Su-30MKI are 4th generation fighters.
The Rafale and Eurofighter are 4.5 generation fighters.
The F/A-22 is a 5th generation fighter.
MoskitGoldenDragon, I think Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are all good candidates for the FC-1 in addition to Pakistan. In future the FC-1 may become the most numerous fighter in South Asia.
MoskitErez, you should take a look at the available J-10 photos. The J-10 and the Lavi are different designs.
Over G and Agent Smith, you are right. In some ways the J-10 resembles the Eurofighter.
MoskitMSNBC News
China now seen as the leader in Asia’s space race
Updated: 10:57 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2005
TANEGASHIMA, Japan – The countdown is on. After 15 months on the ground, Japan is hoping to get back into the space race in Asia with a launch Saturday of its domestically designed H-2A rocket.
But with China now in the spotlight and memories still fresh of how Japan’s last mission ended in a fireball, officials admit it won’t be easy.
“This launch is crucial,” said Mamoru Endo, a senior official with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency as crews prepared the sleek black, white and orange rocket for its trip to the launchpad at the sprawling space center on this remote, semitropical island.
“But a single launch success is not enough to revive the reliability and reputation of the H-2A. I think maybe three or four successes will be necessary.”
Long Asia’s leading spacefaring nation, Japan is struggling to get out from under the shadow of China, which put its first astronaut into orbit in October 2003. A month later, a Japanese H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites malfunctioned after liftoff, forcing controllers to blow it up.
Last month, Beijing announced it will send two astronauts into orbit for up to five days in September or October. China, which is believed to have earmarked $20 billion for its manned program, hopes to put an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010.
Though loathe to admit it, Japanese space agency officials have been shaken by China’s advances.
“We aren’t especially conscious of China,” Endo said, noting that the two nations’ space programs have very different objectives.
But he acknowledged a government panel recommended last year that Japan, which has focused on unmanned, scientific probes, consider a manned space program over the next decade. He also said that, although the space agency’s budget has been generally declining, there is growing political support for increasing it in the near future.
Space race gets crowded
China’s lofty ambitions have caught the attention of Washington as well.
Mindful of the Chinese challenge but careful to call it a “journey and not a race,” President Bush has outlined an ambitious plan to put an astronaut back on the moon by 2020 and send Americans to Mars, a program that could cost a whopping $400 billion.
Other players are also becoming more active in the space game — though they have a lot of catching up to do:
– India, with an annual space budget of $300 million, has developed rockets able to fire satellites into orbit, and short-and medium-range missiles. India plans to launch 40 satellites capable of collecting images of Earth from space by 2008 and send a manned mission to the moon before 2015.
– Pakistan, which like India has developed advanced missile capabilities in tandem with its nuclear weapons program, is bolstering its space ambitions and has been working on its own satellites.
– Iran said in January that it will launch a satellite with its own rocket within 18 months, which would make it the first Islamic country with the technology to do so.
– North Korea claimed to have launched its first satellite in 1998 and said it was successfully broadcasting praises of leader Kim Jong Il from orbit. That has been disputed by experts in Japan and the United States, who believe the launch was merely a test of the communist state’s Taepodong I missile technology.
In any case, the North Korean program is transforming Japan’s effort, which has a budget of $2.5 billion for the current fiscal year.
Japan launched its first spy satellites — part of a long-term, $2 billion program aimed primarily at keeping watch on North Korea’s missile and nuclear activities — aboard an H-2A in March 2003. Two more are awaiting launch to replace those lost that November.
The program, championed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, was strongly criticized as a departure from Japan’s policy of the non-militarization of space. But space agency officials say the satellites are not a threat to North Korea or any other nation.
MoskitIts possible the Y-8 AWACs will be used for naval patrols. The Y-8 has good endurance and can keep a close watch on enemy warships and aircraft in the Pacific Ocean.
China has plenty of long range anti-ship missiles. The Y-8 AWACs can provide long range targetting for these missiles as well as coordinate Su-30MK2s against enemy fighters in the Pacific Ocean.
MoskitSomeone here was asking about the quality of Chinese computer programmers. You might be interested in this global ranking of the world’s best computer programmers. China is ranked fourth in the world.
http://www.topcoder.com/stat?c=country_avg_rating
Rank Name Member Count Rating
1 United States 1130 2747.98
2 Poland 131 2532.21
3 Canada 175 2472.89
4 China 95 2268.00
5 Germany 68 2187.49
6 Sweden 34 2120.45
7 Russian Federation 68 2067.45
8 Netherlands 20 2027.58
9 Ukraine 33 2019.31
10 Australia 53 1899.00
11 Romania 90 1895.18
12 Croatia 32 1852.37
13 Norway 27 1823.27
14 Belarus 27 1732.80
15 Slovakia (Slovak Republic) 16 1713.02
16 Bulgaria 39 1705.51
17 Argentina 37 1652.74
18 Korea, Republic of 10 1602.11
19 India 273 1592.06
20 United Kingdom 43 1564.16
21 Brazil 41 1563.82
22 Spain 16 1533.72
23 Viet Nam 12 1507.87
24 Estonia 12 1501.30
25 South Africa 10 1462.90
26 Indonesia 26 1450.29
27 France 14 1436.19
28 Japan 12 1428.52
29 Hong Kong 11 1395.27
30 Singapore 14 1355.21
31 Italy 20 1342.81
32 Lithuania 14 1301.13
33 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 11 1250.76
34 Bangladesh 11 1156.64
35 Israel 11 1072.66
36 Egypt 25 1066.61
37 Venezuela 14 1065.66
38 Mexico 20 1007.94
39 Pakistan 18 918.24
40 Philippines 11 910.80
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