probably the latter. though, this looks like quite a thorough refurbishment. probably not unlike the one il76 went through before they became awacs. so perhaps more il-76 based awacs are coming?

alternatively, if it IS y20, then it looks to be quite similar to il76, almost a copy, taking its worst trait – the fairly narrow fuselage. i do hope, for chinese sake, that were looking at an il76.

while j20 doesnt look like a very good knife fighter, using just guns, it does look optimized for supersonic regime. it may not be able to keep turning and turning and hold its own in a long dogfight but it does look optimized for a very fast first turn or two, getting the nose pointed wherever it needs to be pointed at. And it certainly looks as if it is meant to carry a LOT of fuel. that might mean inefficient engines or long range. or, probably, something in between.

IF the next gen missiles versus next gen defensive systems can regularly achieve 30-40% kill ratios, i’d say its design is very prudent. If it turns out missiles (versus same gen systems) will offer just 10-20% kill ratios, then its design might turn out to be too risky.

the list seems accurate enough for most types – save for j11s. there is no way there are so many su27s and j11s. it is well documented that at best some 100 j11s were produced before production switched to j11b model. and it is also very well documented there were, all in all, 76 su27sk and su27ubk (combined) delivered in the 1990s. I’d therefore lower the flanker family variant figure by some 100 planes. also, what about adding bombers to the list? H6? does anyone know how large h6 squadrons are? i have a feeling they seem to change sizes and that plaaf and planaf squadrons might have different compositions and numbers…

I would like to see how MIG 29K with 1064 element Zhuk AE and R 77/R73E will do against Super Hornet Block II 🙂

Considering r77 and r73e are missiles with some 15-20 year old technology in them and havent been updated since – probably not too well. mig29 with rvv-sd and especially rvv-md might be a different ordeal.

it is not clear if j11a can use r77, true, but chronologically, didn’t the j11a come after the last batch of ubks? that would point to likelyhood of all the flankers coming after the ubks having at least same avionics.

alternatively, if the planes were modernized after being bought, during their service, it is even likelier all the j11a have r77 integrated, as why would anyone in their right mind modernized the trainer flankers but not the flankers meant for combat?

as for j10b, it sure does look like a new position for rwr, especially if you look at j10a, which has a similar thingy on the side of the intake, but here in j10b thats missing and the new thingy is moved half a meter up, near the canards.

don’t the su30 have horizontally cut tail tips? and ubk should have tail tips cut at an angle? these have straight tail tips…