In hind sight its a shame that they didnt go for the original supersonic harrier, the engine had already been built and a prototype was under construction.

If you are that tired you should go to bed.

Are the Indian SHARs realy viable for that many more years, considering how long they have been in service? is it realy economical consiering that the ex Gorshkov will be along in a few years?

Does anybody have any evidence for the Derby on Indian Shars, I have seen several reports saying that the plan to upgrade the SHARS with Israeli kit was dropped and I have never seen a photo of a SHAR with a derby, or a report of sales of that missile to India.

The UK is retiring the SHAR and has been for ages, see the navy forum. The rumour is that the Indians are looking into buying the aircraft, but that they may have the ability to fire AMRAAM removed, or even the Blue Vixen radar deactivated, which has to make one wonder what the point is.

edisonone, that is EXACTLY what I said in my first point.

The J-11B raises an interesting question. With J-10 production looking like it is at about 5 a month (or 60 a year). And reports that WS-10A production is going to be 60 per annum which would suggest J-11B production at a rate of upto 30 a year as well as small numbers of JH-7A dribbling into the PLANAF, it is possibly reasonably safe to say that we can expect some 100 4th generation combat aircraft per year to enter the chinese armed forces, is there realy room for the FC-1? could this explain the seeming coolness of the PLAAF to the aircraft? Can the PLAAF actually absorb any more aircraft?

The 04 change was for at least three possibly more reasons.

1) The US offered pakistan F-16, in order to keep the FC-1 in favour in pakistan and maintain chinese influence in that country improvements were made.

2) The IAF MRCA requirement, introduced the spectre of yet more adavanced combat aircraft in the region, thus more capabiliyu was needed in an attempt to combat the ever increasing proliferation of advanced 4th generation types.

3) The PLAAF had not ans still has yet to fully commit to the type, thus more incentive was required for indigenous orders.

4) It was apparent from flight testing that there were serious problems with the original design, so something had to be done and fast.

There will not any major airframe changes between production FC-1’s they will all have the DSI intakes and the LERX. The only difference’s wll be in avionics and weapons intergration.