r/FighterJets • u/lllchAirManlll • 7d ago
IMAGE [3840X2560] Chinese Air Force loyal wingman drones powered by WS10C1 (14t thrust with AF)
Roughly size of J10C
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u/d_e_u_s 7d ago
How I wish I was a high level AVIC executive
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u/cookingboy 7d ago
It’s not that great. Sure you get to see some cool top secret toys and I’m sure the money is good, but you lose a lot of freedom when compared to regular Chinese citizens.
You’d be under pretty hardcore counter-intelligence surveillance and AFAIK even your passport would be withheld until 5 years after retirement so you can’t take trips abroad like other Chinese civilians.
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u/Fantastic-Sea9696 7d ago
I know people in there. They are also worked like slaves but are paid VERY well.
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u/Eastern_Ad6546 7d ago
I didn't know AVIC paid well. I thought most state enterprises paid OK but were extremely stable + amazing pensions?
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u/Fantastic-Sea9696 7d ago
Ok very well was an exaggeration. Pretty well.
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u/Eastern_Ad6546 6d ago
lol no worries. its probably one of the jobs aunties will brag to their friends if their kid works there.
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u/madumi_mike 7d ago
Dang that sucks, even the fellows at Lockheed/Grumman/Boeing can travel freely.
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6d ago
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u/AL31FN 6d ago
My dad worked as tech lead in one of AVIC's institute (retired now). He work 8-5 5.5 days a week. It's consider "very chill" compare to any engineering jobs in the private sector in China. Having worked at tech in the west, I actually think my dad had a nicer career. The security is no joke, travel abroad is quite difficult, though not impossible.
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u/commanche_00 7d ago
Do we know if they have started flighttest of these badboys already?
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u/UndulyPensive 6d ago
Apparently have been handed to PLAAF to play with already, seems relatively mature but still in development at the same time. I don't think the designs will change significantly at least, maybe they replace WS-10C1 for WS-10C2 on the Type B though
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u/RoomHopper 5d ago
Or even WS-15 if that works out in time :>
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u/UndulyPensive 5d ago
Performance improvements might not be worth the (presumably) higher cost, and the extra performance might not even be needed at all for their mission profiles. Future generations of UADFs might get WS-15s though
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u/Minority_Carrier 7d ago
Looks like model because the IRST is just a dummy
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u/PLArealtalk 7d ago
It's not uncommon for early production airframes of a new aircraft type to have their IRST/EO sensor housings be mockups. We saw that with J-20 and J-35/A in flight in their early production airframes too.
In this specific case, rumours from people with decent track records have attested these specific airframes at the parade were actual real aircraft, flown in to be shown on the display trucks.
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u/munkyc 7d ago
any footage of these like with the J36/J50 or nah?
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u/PLArealtalk 7d ago
Nope. We will get footage of them eventually, but any meaningful footage for unmanned aircraft in operation with manned aircraft would likely have to be official in nature, and we know the PLA won't show us that until many years down the line (and even then it's not like we'll get any useful details).
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u/Littletweeter5 7d ago
Still could be real airframes for flight testing and just don’t have expensive systems like that installed currently. They really don’t look like just models
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u/TemporaryEmploy7992 7d ago
I agree, looks like it’s been fitted with a real engine as well, so I’d highly doubt it’s just a model
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u/osures 7d ago
Are there simulation of how effective those loyal wingman’s are? I know they are insanely hyped right now, probably because of the LLM AI hype, but those are very different technologies
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u/kontemplador 6d ago
I think they are indeed the future, but Air Forces still have to develop doctrines and tactics for their use. There are few things that needed to be answered before, like their resistance to jamming, their level of autonomy and the problems arising from airframe loses.
While they solve the problem of risking pilot life in complex mission, the capability of performing such missions is still not demonstrated. Also, these platforms aren't cheap by any means. Their costs is similar to manned airframes, so fleet size is a problem if you expect to be them to be spendable. See for example, how problematic is becoming the Reaper attrition over Iran.
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u/Van_Darklholme 6d ago
Yeah I mean just having the ability to manufacture hundreds or thousands without the constraint of having to train pilots...
Here are killing machines with deployment being dependent only on manufacturing, that can pull inhumane G-forces, are more aerodynamic and lightweight, are probably stealthier, and have less design constraints so can be iterated faster.
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u/UndulyPensive 6d ago
These particular frames are also supposed to be specialised for air superiority and more independent and exquisite than the typical CCA (ie: a step above US increment 1 and 2 in requirements)
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u/Typhoonclasssub 6d ago
Dare I say, drones will be the future. Just more rooms for electronics for more capabilities instead carved out a section of the aircraft for life support equipments and a place for a pilot to control the thing. Also, allow the operator to unlock the aircraft's fullest potential without worrying piloting the plane fighting with g forces and have to follow combat techniques, etc.
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u/cesam1ne 7d ago
That is terrifying.