bro i am agree partially with this post of your from the beginning J-20 first flight WS-10 don't mature enough to WS-15 core on that time, to reduce risk CAC put AL-31 to first 2 or 3 prototype than they put WS-10X when they matures and than they will convert WS-10X with a core of WS-15 late on the project, your thrust estimation about just too much or you have concrete source
i would say at-least equal to F-135 or slightly higher
no hard feeling bro
Bro, the F-135 is listed as a 190kN class engine, the exact figure is not released, as it is still classified. The word on the street, is that it is very likely to be higher than 190kN.
The F-135 engine was developed in the early 1990's and became operational in the early 2000's.
Now, more than 20 years later, China has developed an engine that is of the same class, perhaps just a bit more powerful.
I find that credible, based on China's progress in various fields, in the last 30 years.
i don't have hard data like J-20's empty weight to back me. I just estimated that J-20 is at least
2 tons heavier than's F-22's 19.7 tons empty. I find this estimate conservative, since J-20 is at least 3.5 meter longer than F-22, from nose to nozzle.
And I, conservatively, estimated that J-20 was carrying 1/3 of a full tank, or 4 tons of fuel (not a whole lot for a 20+ tons plane) during the sustained vertical climb at the air show, while not using afterburner.
So, I arrived at the flying weight of 22 + 4 =
26 tons for J-20 during that day.
26/2 = 13 tons per engine, it must lift vertically. And since it was not using Afterburner, that means it was using only dry thrust for the vertical climb.
Dry thrust is usually
60% of the maximal thrust.
That is:
Max. Thrust = Dry Thrust / 0.60
So we got,
Max. Thrust = 13 tons / 0.60
Max. Thrust =
21.6 tons, per engine
Is the current Max. Thrust of WS-15 18 tons or 21 tons?
I am not sure. Since my flying weight for J-20, during the air show, was purely a guess.
However, if the Max. Thrust is 18 tons, then J-20 needs to be the same empty weight as F-22's 19.7 tons and carry only 2 tons of fuel for the demo, or something like that.
For a total of 22 tons of flying weight. That would put J-20's max. thrust at 18 tons per engine.
Here is the calculation:
22/2 = 11 tons, dry thrust, each engine must have to lift J-20 vertically, without afterburner.
Max. thrust = 11 tons / 0.6 = 18.3 tons
I find this highly unlikely. That J-20 is the same weight as F-22, despite its at least 3.5 meters longer, nose to nozzle, and carries only 2 tons of fuel during the demo.
So I am comfortable that WS-15 has a
max. thrust > 21 tons.
The fact that J-20 did a 5-6 seconds of sustained vertical climb, without the use of Afterburner, is an eye opener for me.
But this earth shattering significance has not caught up to other observers, yet.
All this means J-20 has one hell of aerodynamic airframe, one hell of powerful engine, one hell of state of the art avionics suite, one hell of AESA radar, and one hell of combat range.
And China has the money to produces, several hundreds of those mighty beasts, in the next 20 years, unlike F-22, which is already cancelled.