I too would agree with that general opinion. Older aircraft have a set of characteristics that sets them apart from most of today’s aircraft. The J-8, despite being late for its generation, is still filled with all of the qualities that make aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom, MiG-23 Flogger, Su-15 Flagon, JA-37 Viggen and others of the time such classics in their own ways.

Seems a shame the Finback II didn’t get wings like the JF-17 for greater versatility when it was introduced in the late 80s.

Speaking of the Phantom, how does it compare to the J-8II? Can we do a quick side by side comparison for speed, acceleration, climb, rate of turn, ceiling, range etc?

I didn’t compare China to WW2 Japan. Replying to me as if I did is absurd.

You jumped into a conversation I had with Obligatory where he DID compare China’s oil dependance to Japan. I don’t know why you’re complaining about me being on topic.

Blowing up a pipeline in Manchuria is going to stop Russian oil shipment to China? Are you serious? They couldn’t even stop oil delivery to North Vietnam, or arms into South Vietnam. Interdicting supplies overland is very different than on sea.

Could China scale coal liquidfication in a few months? Probably not. Is there going to be a blockade of China in a few months? Probably not. Would a naval blockade of China tomorrow cause it to surrender in a few months? Probably not.

In any case, your argument that it’s uneconomical in wartime is not based on facts. The industry has long consider doing just that every time oil prices peaked. It’s only uneconomical when your export contracts are based on razor thin profit margins.

You also completely ignored the role of shale gas and other alternative energies that would make countries with like China and the United States independent of overseas imports in the near future.

I’m not really surprised at your response. Someone was going to make the bizarre claim that China is going to import the same amount of oil in a war with the US as it does now when it’s using most of it to make things for the US and it’s allies. You just happen to be that guy.

China’s problem is the same as Japan had,
they can’t get oil once an easily done blockade is in place

Wow you couldn’t be more wrong. China gets much of its oil from Russia and Central Asia, how you’re going to blockade that?

China also has its own oil resources and plenty of coal, which can be liquidfied in time of war. Its also the Saudi Arabia of shale gas, so once they figure out fracking, a naval blockade isnt going to bite at all as far as energy needs go.

I just dont buy into the idea that despotic paranoid regimes can’t have highly professional military organization. The Third Reich seem to manage just fine. The Luftwaffe and the SS were both highly politicized outfits. In any case the air force posed less of a political risk to Saddam than the army. His problem was he didn’t appreciate the fact that a professional air force (and surface to air forces) were essential to regime survival. Iraqi forces evolved out of the need for propping up Saddam and fighting Iran. They were only as good as they needed to be.

Why didn’t they just bury their planes like they did in 2003?

Again, you miss the point.

The Nazi flag was a symbol of an ideology. It was the flag of a political movement, which was then imposed as a national flag. It represents nazism, not Germany.

The Japanese flags (the national flag, & the two different versions of the rising sun used by the army & navy) are long-standing traditional emblems, pre-dating the use of them by a regime & army which committed atrocities. They represent Japan, not the 1930s-WW2 regime.

I’m missing the point? Listen I’m just explaining to you how it is since you asked for it. The Japanese War Flag represents Japanese militarism to East Asians (shocking isnt it?). Whatever it means to you or others is beside the point.

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

People laugh for all sorts of reasons. Since you aren’t disputing any claims at all, your laughter rings hollow, and may be mistaken as something else entirely. 😀

Given the number of islands they have worry about, its seems insane to me Japan should pass up the F-35B, even if they develop something like the F-3. Any defense planner with a modicum of sense would build the F-35 at home and then design something bigger if the budgets allow. Otherwise they would be putting all their chips into one high risk gamble, which even if it pays off, wont have a STOVL capability.