well i think that was the idea behind choosing a chinese radar and avionics (for the early ac at least anyways). the radar and avionics going into the FC1 will most likely be pull out of the J10 programme with only some small changes. this should means that the FC1 can now benefit form the J10’s weapons intergration tests – ie the weapons are already fully intergrated to the radar and avionics even before they were installed into the prototypes!
the only thing left to do is ironing out any last minute bugs and test the ac’s handling with the weapons to devise a flight envelop. then they should be able to ‘fast forward’ through the test firing stages, unless something goes wrong, and the ac should be ready.
this is almost certainly the reason behind the FC1’s planned delivery date being so close.
the idea should basically be to get the plane into PAF hands ASAP so they can start pilot conversion and to reach initial combat readiness to plug the PAF’s BVR hole in the shortest time frame.
in the meanwhile, ‘proper’ intergration of the PAF’s ‘ideal’ radar and avionic suit would take place at chengdu. this is probably what the FC1B is, and would most likely take alot longer to get everything sorted.
its also somewhat interesting that the planned start time for the FC1B is shortly after the precieved date the EU is planning on lifting its arms ban against china. so if the deal falls through, there is the chance of the FC1B being delayed or changed.
I would like to add that getting J10 avionics means getting the price lower so China would be more intrested and it would add more national components (which is important). At the dame time it could mean Pakistan getting more know how to get J10.
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