As I said before the Chinese are so far ahead in all kinds of technology, the rest of the world still has no idea what is going to hit them. First some news.
between Mach 6 and Mach 16 – conventional engines falter
By strategically positioning a 5mm bump on the combustor wall, engineers found they could induce self-sustaining “detonation diamonds” – ultra-fast shock wave-fuelled explosions – that completed combustion in microseconds.
“The shock wave compresses and ignites the fuel-air mix so violently that it creates a self-reinforcing explosion front”
My Comments :
All this has become possible because of that JF-12 shock tunnel. This a a Mach 30 wind tunnel - the highest velocity wind tunnel in the world - which the Chinese built a few years back. I blogged about it. A wind tunnel allows for the testing of models of airframes, missiles, rockets, jet engines, artillery rounds at various air speeds. They mount the model on a stand inside the wind tunnel and then start blowing air through the wind tunnel at various speeds - thus simulating the behaviour of the model airframe etc at various airspeeds. Previously the fastest wind tunnels did not go beyond a few mach. But the Chinese built a monster that can hit Mach 30. This allows them to expand the boundaries of their high speed research. This is what is happening.
If the Chinese can build a Mach 16 jet engine, they will then have to build an airframe and wings that can withstand the heat generated at Mach 16. At Mach 16 normal steel will likely melt. Even carbon composites can catch fire. But rest assured that the Chinese will figure that out.
Even at Mach 4 (four times the speed of sound) like the soon to fly Russian MIG41 or I dont know which one of the Chinese Gen 6 and Gen 5 fighters, the rest of western aviation (F35, F15, Typhoon bla bla) are going to get smoked. The war is over.
But if the Chinese introduce a Mach 16 plane, that is quite indescribable. The west might as well park all their jet fighters and go home for tea. The war is over.
In the picture above is that popped-out-of-nowhere Chinese J36 plane. It first appeared just a few months back. Very little is known about the plane. It does seem to have three engines. The two symmetrical engines can possibly fly supercruise (without afterburners) at Mach 2.5 (YouTube). With afterburners the speed can possibly go beyond Mach 2.5. The real unknown is that third engine. If it is a scramjet engine, when it kicks in, that third engine can possibly take the plane to Mach 4 or more.
The war is over.
