Not exactly mecha, but still cool; Chengdu J-10B

Someone posted this on the Aircraft Resource Center forums. Based off of China's new Chengdu J-10B, an improved version of the J-10A (though I have no idea why they felt a DSI would improve performance). Again, not mine, but slick and sexy.

Which one? The girl or the plane? In a way the girl is still considered kind of a mecha mecha since girls that cosplay/wearing military vehicles are called mecha musume.

Well, both I guess. Sorry, but I thought it was relevant and this forum is the closest place appropriate to show it. I thought of the mecha musume thread but got the vibe it was a 'MS-only' kind of gig. The girl is very cute and kinda hot (given me inspiration for a character in my book), and for a ripped-off Rafale/Eurofighter/Lavi/Gripen copycat cobble-together*, the Chengdu J-10 is pretty cool. Supposedly China has 70+ AL-31 OVT (thrust vectoring) engines, giving the J-10 similar post-stall maneuvering performance to the F-22 Raptor, and the AL-31 is in the 28/30,000lb thrust class, so it would give a A2A-loaded J-10 (potentially) supercruise and a 1:1 thrust to weight (ability to accelerate vertically).

*Look closely and you'll find the Dassault Rafale's rudder, the wings off the Eurofighter EF-2000, the Canards off the Saab Gripen, and the intake and nose of the Israel aircraft Industries Lavi.

I can see you really like fighter jets. Ok I'm not much into fighter jet specifications but I still like fighter jets. However is this fighter jet new? I've never heard of this one before compared to the other ones that you mentioned. But something that have similar maneuvering as the F-22 Raptor is quite interesting. By A2A, you mean air to air missile right?

Don't worry about the mecha musume though. You ought to pay the thread a visit you'll be suprised that there are tanks, ships and planes especially from WWII depicted as cute and sexy girls like the one you posted.

Not exactly new, it's been known for a few years now, this one is an updated version with supposedly better avionics/radar and a 'diverterless' intake like the F-35 JSF has. The thing about Raptor maneuverability might not come to fruition though, as China's in a bit of hot-water with Russia (the AL-31 OVT engine is made by Saturn in Russia) over unlicensed copies of their aircraft (J-11), so unless China develops their own thrust vectoring engine it won't become standard.

Yeah, A2A is air-air missiles.