so what is in Rafale/F-18E weopons are u talking about ?that pathetic harpoon/Exocet combo. satellite guided bombs are certified on Su-34. and any way u are not going to use those against real airforces. u need long range Anti-ship and air to air weopons.
these aircraft are even less capable than MIG-29K. both are underpowered and needs fuel tanks for any decent mission. Rafale has very smallish nose.

Where do you get these ideas from?
[/quote]
FM-1 is certified and the other 3 are going to be certified in less than 3 years. and Zhuk-A is developed system. it will just need flight test on particular aircraft. just like APG-80E and F-16E.[/QUOTE]
says who? How long have been hearing about FM-1 and it is still not on any aircraft yet. PLAN will be lucky if the su-33s have FM-1. Zhuk-A? let’s see when the Russians will have the capacity to produce the T/R modules for production of AESA radars.

Wooh, accessory gearbox on the bottom. That means J-10 version of WS-10A, not J-11 version.

Not sure how hard it is, but I always thought it would make sense to modify J-11B, so that it can use gearbox on the bottom rather than creating two types of WS-10A

It depends on time line and money.
If the contract is like IN MIG-29K contract (when the whole aircraft from engines to structure is entirely new). than China could have the best Naval fighter in the world in terms of weopons, aerodynamaics, range, speed, payload, radar etc. which can act as Fast AWACS for ships. even one aircraft carrier with 40 or so figher for solving situational awarness and fleet defence.
think about aircraft powered by AL-31FM-4 armed with airlaunched Clubs (ship launch is now 275KM. for airlaunch simple double its range).
I think Irbis Pesa/Zhuk-A should be good canidates for it to act like an information plat form.

in terms of weapon package, it will NOT exceed that of super hornet or Rafale by any stretch of imagination. Neither China nor Russia has the kind of multirole radar that the super hornet has and the kind of strike capability and different types of land/sea strike weapons that is available for the super hornet and Rafale. Also being used on a STOBAR carrier simply does not allow flankers to be able to carry as much payload as something launched from a CATOBAR carrier.

FM1 has just become available and you are talking about 4 already? Air launched Club, double 275 km? There is this thing called the MTCR that limits it to 300 km. If China waits that long for zhuk-A, FM4 and air launched club to come out, its own naval fighter would be available by then.

it also depends on what kind of su-33 gets offered (ie: what kind of engine and radar and avionics it gets). If the Russians let China put its own radar on su-33 and use a combination of Russian/Chinese missiles, I think China would be a lot more willing to make the larger purchase.

not likely, It’s either going to be su-33, or a modified J-11 or a navalized J-10

I’m neither assuming nor ruling out anything. Just using what IS known (VL, SARH) and suggesting what would be (il)logical or most likely (you don’t really need Orekhs if you have an active radar homing missile, or an IIR-homing missile)

never said it wasn’t SARH, but rather that you are ignoring indigenously developed SARH type of SAM.

Well, 054A with Russian origin Top Plate, 75mm Main gun, Orekh, Ka28 and Chinese HQ16 (with Russian help) has been the rumored in China for 3-4 years. So, to me, the most likely thing is, the rumor is correct.

nobody rumoured the gun to be 76 mm until most recently, and that radar is indigenous, not top plate.

Except, the pic you showed is of a launcher for Club/Brahmos (single lid, Shtil VL has smaller double lids.). IF those frames are what’s installed, then given the presence of Orekh for guidance, you’re looking at a relatively small SARH missile, which weighs against the active radar guided SD10 but leaves open the possibility of a modified 9M330 missile (Klinok/Tor/SA-N-9). Quite frankly, it would be great improvement IMHO if that missile could work with Orekhs also, rather than the bulky and cumbersome MR-360 Podkat/Cross Sword.

let’s wait for more pictures to come out
one eliminates a lot of possibility by assuming beforehand that it is copying from an existing Russian naval SAM.

well the KDXII has 32 Sea Sparrow…
So does DD Murasame and Takanami class

all in the 4500-5000 ton range

for KDXII, it’s significantly larger than 054A to not really be comparable. (at least 500 ton heavier, as much as 1000 tonne heavier) As for Tankanami, that was my point, it’s slightly larger than 054A and can only hold 32 cell ESSM.

The one in the picture is definitely 054, not 054A.

As for pride, it’s not a matter of pride. If we haven’t heard about any export to China, then there is none. We heard about the latest S-300 sales. We heard about Tor-M1 negotiation starting again. We even heard about IRST systems exported to China! We’ve heard nothing about VLS shtil actually gettting exported and delivered already.