Today we are going to talk about the J-31, because this aircraft has recently made big news.
As we all know, since the J-31 appeared in front of everyone more than ten years ago, some domestic netizens have been worried that it does not have a "side bomb bay". In fact, I personally have always not understood, why does a medium fighter have to have a side bomb bay? Why didn't I see this group of people having to get a wingtip pylon for the J-10?
Okay, let's get down to business, recently, in the promotional video released by the official public account of Shenfei Company, a conceptual drawing of a fighter numbered J-31B appeared, this J-31B not only has a side bomb bay, this side bomb bay is also equipped with 2 combat missiles.
, this J-31B has a side bomb bay with 2 combat bombs in the cabin
As we all know, at present, heavy stealth fighters such as J-20 and F-22 only have side bomb bays, and one side bomb bay can only carry one combat missile, while F-35, a medium-sized stealth fighter, only has a built-in bomb bay in the belly.
Almost at the same time, a group of J-35 model photos circulating on the Internet also appeared in the side bomb bay, but the side bomb bay in the model was not a combat bomb, but an iron bomb.
So now that there is a video of Shen Fei, and there is a model that can be used as an auxiliary proof, can it be said that the follow-up development model of the J-31 will become the world's first medium-sized stealth fighter with a side bomb bay?
Netizens who often watch our show know that in the face of various new types of weapons, I often emphasize one point, that is: demand.
Let's take a look at the United States first, the US Air Force initially thought that the insufficient number of combat missiles carried by the F-22 and F-35 was not a problem, because in the face of non-stealth fighters from other countries, the F-22 and F-35 with the advantage of stealth, they could carry out a disengagement maneuver after an off-line attack, and they could not use combat missiles at all.
However, in recent years, with the successive service of stealth fighters in China and Russia, the US Air Force has found in the confrontation exercise between stealth fighters that because both sides have stealth technology, the detection range of fighter radars has been greatly reduced, resulting in a significant increase in the probability of close-range combat between stealth fighters on both sides.
In this case, the insufficient number of combat missiles for stealth fighters can become big trouble.
The F-22 and J-20 can only carry one combat missile on the side bomb bay
And you can simply take stock, the number of stealth fighters deployed around China has become more and more, and even South Korea has made a "quasi-stealth" fighter jet, so our PLA aviation, in terms of demand, must also hope that the J-31 can have a side bomb bay - who doesn't want more and more.
From a technical point of view, the J-31 on both sides of the air intake, to take into account the engine, landing gear, belly of the main bomb bay occupied by the space, unless we have greater progress in materials, structure, or we have a breakthrough in the miniaturization of air-to-air missiles, it is difficult to design a side bomb bay to go up.
And the same is true in reality, taking the J-35 fighter as an example, the hatches on both sides of its air intake are maintenance hatches, which are used for equipment such as power supply, oxygenation and refueling.
Of course, when it comes to medium-sized stealth fighters, we can't fail to mention the Russian Su-75, which has severely compressed the size of the main bomb bay in order to set up two side bomb bays, which makes it basically lose the ability to load relatively heavy ground attack ammunition. Even if Russia has a more miniaturized air-to-air missile in the future, limited by the size of the Su-75's bomb bay, it can only be equipped with 5 air-to-air missiles at most, while the J-31 and F-35 have no problem loading 6 air-to-air missiles if they are equipped with new ammunition.
The J-31 missile mount scheme can hang 6 missiles in the main bomb bay
To put it bluntly, with the emergence of a new generation of air-to-air missiles, our J-31 is in the main bomb bay in the abdomen, which can hang 2 combat bombs plus 4 medium/long-range air-to-air missiles, and with the progress of missile technology, the boundary between close-range combat air-to-air missiles and medium- and long-range air-to-air missiles will become more and more blurred in the future, and there is no need to dwell on the concept of "combat bombs".
Therefore, combined with what we just talked about, I think that with the current demand and technical level, whether it is the J-31 or the J-35, there is no need to engage in side bomb bays.
Many netizens did not even know about the existence of the Su-75
Whether it is the concept animation in Shen Fei's promotional video or the model on the market, it is not a reference, but more like a vision. Therefore, for the development of the J-31 family, let's put aside the obsession with the bomb bay on the opposite side, and in the air supremacy mission, don't forget that there are heavy fighters like J-20, and various models are matched to form a systematic combat capability, which is what a big country like China can do.
It seems that everything can be done, but in fact, nothing is refined, and we don't need such a model in the PLA.
The design of the side bomb bay in this mode is too fanciful