China politically only wins by keeping a NK propped up as long as its a major pest for American interests. China is playing the new Dominoes Theory post-Soviet Union. They’ve expanded their support world-wide, from Africa to South America and beyond. Economic warfare is the rage of today, and China clearly is using it aggressively in order to scratch out its place in the world proper.

Do China possess oversea naval and air base?do the China challenge the US economic interest,if you are right wing nut,you will said yes,but if you are realist the answer is no. rememberthe same rightwinger who gave the US domino theory in the 50’s,russian bomber superioity,and WMD in iraq are same guy who gave you Chinese threat.

What if the Viet Nam War were fought today, with today’s more capable weapons systems? care to make any predictions…

fire power and high tech is be useless in the face asymetrical warfare.(read iraq)
if the vietnam war fought today but with today capable weapon system,the outcome still same.

I found some very crude “babelfish” translations of early engine-“competition” for the “Super-/” when Western assistance was still under way !

All what I could extract is that there were the following engines under consideration:

• Pratt & Whitney PW1212 turbojet, itself an improved version of the basic American J52 with features of the JT8D offering faster response to throttle movements, greater fuel economy and stall-free operation (to be designated J52-P-409 in US service and proposed without afterburner for the EA-6B Prowler)

• Pratt & Whitney PW1216 turbojet [unsure modus on] related to an update kit for the Chinese WP-7BM or even WP-13 with Western items … is that true ??? [unsure modus off] with a thrust of 5400 kp and 7425 kp with afterburner (air-flow of 81 kg/s) and a unit price of around US $ 2 Mio.
The weaknesses of both engines were especially their age – being originally developed to power the A-4 Skyhawk in 1962 and the Fishbed itself – and some necessary changes to the intake-design. Additional it would have required a strengthened airframe adding around 135 kg of additional weight.

• Pratt & Whitney PW1120 turbofan, with the highest thrust but also the highest price of all contenders with 6122 kp and 9387 kp with afterburner (air-flow of 81 kg/s).

• General Electric F404 turbofan with a thrust of 4790 kp and 7711 kp with afterburner (air-flow of 68 kg/s) for a unit price of around 1,8 Mio. US $.

• Turbo Union RB.199-127/128 turbofan with a thrust of 4123 kp and 7430 kp with afterburner (air-flow of 68 kg/s) for a similar unit price.

• At least until the final cancellation of the Super-7 another contender appeared in the form of the WP-14 “Kunlun” which was at a too early state of development. (????) :confused:

Can anyone help me out with these contenders and / or some more technical aspects ????

Thanks in advance,

Deino 😀

this is a very old news,part of Peace pearl program.

Knowing how to build parts is a world away from designing a new aircraft from scratch. It was most unlikely that Iran would be able to leap straight to a clean sheet design F-18 rival; reverse engineering the F-5 (Azarakhsh) and then modifying it (Saeqeh) would make perfect sense, and mirror the path taken by Israel and China. Even so both those nations required outside help to complete their “indigenous” designs.

iranian technology is not as bad one could imagine,I rcall few years ago, i come across iranian trade brochure,showing there “made in iran” digital telephone exchange,while it may not be as sophisticate when compare to west or japan,nevertheless it give us inside view about iranian technologcal level.

from VOA,the aircraft is identical to F-5E except the tail end.that this mean the iranian manage to copy the J-85 or Russian/ukrainian supplied small torbofan engine?
it was technically a major accomplishment for the iranian aircraft design.