Actually, situations exist where 4th generation – 4.5th generation jets can be enough of a deterrent to the U.S. Air force – especially if the U.S. military is not willing to commit a large amount of resources to the battle.

Say, for example, Taiwan took the unlikely step of declaring formal independence, and the PRC took the even more unlikely step of enforcing attempting to rejoin Taiwan by force. Older jets such as the later J-7 variants would have a very hard time facing off Taiwan’s indigenous fighter, along with the F-16s. Unless they simply sent enough jets that Taiwan ran out of BVR missiles, China would be unlikely to achieve air superiority. With a late 4th generation jet such as the J-10, China would be able to contest air superiority without relying on massive numerical advantages. Of course, if Japan decides to intervene with their new F-22s and F-35s, things will quickly become hellish for PRC pilots.

As for Iraq, they had a very limited amount of MiG-29As, and they were not used. Saddam did not scramble the Iraqi air force, as it would have been useless. He ordered planes to be buried, apparently.

Or because most advance Russian radar like N-011M bars family and its follow on N-035 Irbis are out of china’s reach for reasons that should be clear to most people with rudimentary knowledge about IAF.

Or it might be that China is banking on the superiority of its systems over Russian designs in the years to come.

The only reason that Russia is ahead of China in avionics development is due to the massive amounts of resources invested in it during the years of the Soviet Union. In recent years, the Russian economy has tanked, and has only recently started growing. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy experiences exceptionally high gains every year. Enormous amounts are being poured into research institutes, and China has the economy to sustain this development.

Time is on China’s side, and China has the ability to invest considerably more resources into research and development.

Sir, unless one of us on this forum shows the exact situations under which these victories were achieved, this statistic is meaningless.

In IAF service, MiG 21 Bis’s flown by instructors have on many an occasion trounced their opponents including the high and mighty Su-30 K’s. Does this mean that they are indeed superior?

The IAF ostensibly got a 9:1 victory ratio against the USAF in Cope India, by varying tactics, pilot skill and ROE -with Bisons, MiG-29’s and Su-30Ks scoring kills against the F-15C. Out of which the Su-30K’s iirc had repeated victories,

Does that mean the Su-30 K is superior to the F-15C? Not at all!

Your points 1 & 3 are quite logical!

Agreed – again, the fact the PLAAF is not publishing information on exactly what happened. If it were a 1:1 ratio starting off at beyond visual range, I’d be very impressed. However, it may be possible that the J-10s are given advantages, such as being the defender, or having numerical superiority/better pilots. Without knowing the exact makeup of the exercises, a clear conclusion cannot be drawn.

However, it is worth knowing that Shenyang has traditionally been the politically favored manufacturer, and that the PLAAF officers and politicians elicited suprise when the J-10s won.

One of the reason I believe some form of breakthrough has been made in avionics/radar is that the new J-11s are ditching Russian radars and avionics in favor indigenous components. Whether this is because indigenous technology represents a significant upgrade, or simply for compatibility with Chinese weapons systems/ease of maintenance is unknown. It is most likely some combination of both factors.

One thing is for certain, the J-10 will end up becoming one of the most influential planes of the early 21st century, just as the F-16 was easily the most influential planes of the late 20th century. I just hope their capabilities are never tested by fire.