In a recent China’s official media interview with the Naval Aviation University, the cradle of China’s carrier-based fighter pilots, the most mysterious modification of the J-15 carrier-based fighter appeared again. Reported on the Internet as J-15T, the aircraft is the J-15 catapult-capable carrier type, and has been distinguished in a picture in April.
Next to No. 552 J-15 meritorious prototype, J-15T’s sturdy nose landing gear diagonal struts and ejection hooks are exposed.
The biggest improvement of the J-15T is to redesign the entire front landing gear and strengthen the front fuselage. The new two-wheeled front landing gear is more robust. The ejection hook is added to the front end of the torsion arm, and the anti-slip rod joint is added to the rear end. The diagonal struts of the landing gear pillars are also stronger to transfer the ejection traction stress to the main structure of the front fuselage.
The new nose gear also has the function of adjusting the stroke of the buffer strut. When ejecting, the hook is lowered to hook the slider, and the nose gear is extended when the end of the deck is separated from the slider to increase the angle of attack of the aircraft and improve the lift of wings.
In addition to the front landing gear, another major improvement of the J-15T is the changeover to China’s homemade “Taihang” engine. This may be because the catapult take-off method reduces the sensitivity of the engine throttle response, or it may be because the “Taihang” engine is constantly changing. After the improvement, it is enough to replace the customized version of the Russian AL-31F engine for J-15 jets.
According to analyst Bai Zhandao, in the future, together with J-31, J-15T elusive catapult-capable carrier fighter will form a dual-type collocation of fifth-generation aircraft and four-and-half-generation jet. Each has its own focus on combat tasks.