CAC J-20 no. 2001 prototype photos

The J-20 #2001 prototype was photographed when it was preparing for high-speed taxi trial at the CAC airfield in late December 2010, wearing a distinctive dark green color scheme (RAM coating applied?). The prototype features a pair of all-moving tailfins and Russian 1.44 style ventral stabilizing fins, which shield the engine nozzles but might increase RCS.

It also features an F-22 style forward fuselage, including Caret intakes but with DSI bumps installed at the upper inner corners, as well as a one-piece frameless canopy. However the canards appear to extend slightly above the plane of the main wings and there are four large underwing actuator fairings which might not be stealth optimized. First disclosed by US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) in 1997 as XXJ, J-20 is the 4th generation multi-role fighter to enter the service between 2015 and 2018. Since 90s both CAC/611 Institute and SAC/601 Institute had been working their own designs for a twin-engine multi-role heavy fighter with stealth capability and maneuverability comparable to American F-22.



It was speculated that 601 Institute was working on a "tri-plane" design (J-18?) based on canard/conventional layout/V-shape tailfin while 611 Institute working on a design based on canard/tailless delta wing/all moving V-shape tailfin/lateral DSI/bump inlet layout. All designs were expected to feature an internal weapon bay to reduce RCS, which has been speculated to be <0 .05m2="" 1475="" a="" advanced="" aesa="" aircraft="" also="" an="" and="" be="" br="" cockpit="" color="" display="" engine="" expected="" f-35="" fbw="" feature="" fire-control="" fully="" glass="" head-on="" holographic="" hud="" incorporates="" integrated="" is="" its="" j-20="" lcd="" may="" pure="" radar="" single="" system="" systems.="" the="" to="" wide-angle="" with="" ype="">
Many of these subsystems have been tested onboard J-10B to speed up the development (see above). The exact type of engine powering J-20 prototypes is unclear, even though a Russian turbofan engine such as 117S or 99M2 (14t class) or D-30F6 (15t class) with an axisymmetric TVC nozzle has been speculated. It was reported in November 2006 that a T/W=10 17t class turbofan (WS-15/"large thrust") is being developed and will eventually power J-20. Russian assistance was also speculated in terms of software support for calculating the RCS of various designs. The overall performance of J-20 is thought to be superior to that of Russian T-50 (maneuverability & supercruise) but still inferior to that of American F-22 (electronics & supercruise). In August 2008 it was reported that 611 Institute was selected to be the main contractor for the development of J-20 and 601 Institute as the sub-contractor. Subsequently a full-scale metal mockup was built at CAC.



One rumor in May 2010 claimed that 611 Institute started to construct the first prototype, which was expected to fly by the end of 2010, even though the full configuration model won't fly until a few years later. Currently two prototypes (#2001 & 2002) have been constructed and the first high-speed taxi trial by 2001 took place on December 22, 2010.

J-20 Black Eagle 3rd Prototype 2003 Emerges

J-20 Black Eagle 3rd Prototype 2003 Emerges

FC-1/JF-17 gets a new Pod ?

Recently fresh pics have surfaced showing the Jf-17 Prototype 06 at Chengdu  Airforce base flying with a new pod. Many speculations have emerged so forth, some labeling it a new ECM pod like the KG-300 , some say its a new targeting pod similar to WMD-7,   some have guessed it to be an IRST pod while other speculations sat that this is just a camera pod.

The last explanation seems more plausible as this Jf-17 was seen as a chase plane for China new 5th Gen Stealth aircraft, the Chengdu J-20. So most likely it was just up in the air with a camera pod to monitor the flight of J-20 .

Furthermore if you zoom in on the pod at the better resolution pic, i have posted , u will be able to guess the words written on the pod. From what i can make of it, it reads BFSK-01 . A quick search on Google reveals that BFSK and similar terms FSK, ASK etc refer to terminology in Telecommunication Physics. 

An extract of a paper presented at MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS CONFERENCE, 2011 - MILCOM 2011 , says that FSK refers to :

Frequency Shift Keying - Fast Frequency Hopping demodulator, which provides increased resilience to interference with a very slight complexity increase. The additional robustness against jamming is achieved by jointly observing the FSK demodulator branches. This allows the proposed demodulator to distinguish the jammer from the signal more accurately. This demodulator is particularly robust for the case of high J/S (Jammer to Signal Ratio), while for the case of low J/S its performance is in line with state-of-the-art receivers.

  This is also augumented by the fact that the pod in question had a UHF antenna popping out. This might give credence to the theory that the pod is actually a camera with secure frequency hopping , jam resistant radio communication device as the FC-1/JF-17 is being used as a chase plane for China's top secret Jet . But who knows, i may be wrong as this is just guess work as i am no expert.