“You could vastly improve the radar and weapons systems by swapping in western systems.”

This is based on what exactly? The Indian Su-30 fleet is being modernized with the latest Indian/Russian stuff, and I don’t see the superiority of generic “western” systems to this upgrade.

I find that article’s Mirage claim to be suspect to say the least.
But whatever…

I am not the one making the laughable claims based on an RC model. 😮

Depends on what you mean by “maneuverable”. The J-20 will beat the J-10 in high alpha. With thrust vectoring it could probably beat the F-22 and T-50 as well. This is a knife fighter with long legs.

http://youtu.be/lw-gug6GdEI

Lol, steel proof right there. An incredibly rough RC model!

But what if the customer[China] demands the integration of high end systems, e.g. 117 Engines, AESA, etc … Won’t they take the cash …?

They can demand all they want, but Russian export laws exist.
The RuMOD has a big say on exports as well.

At the end of the day downgrades may not be huge, or hugely significant. Worse, but not much so. Still worth it if the leap over previous Flankers is big enough.

There are farms within 1 km from supersonic missile testing grounds?

😮

So Iran should withdraw from NPT, problem solved.

Pilot ejected safety, chin up men!