“this give various statistics.
http://www.airtoaircombat.com/detail.asp?id=7“

That site you gave isn’tvery accurate about the Gripen’s numbers.

Right now the market for advanced trainers is more critical than for a light combat fighter. The reason for this is that there is a lot of aging airframes, which are increasingly limited in the number of flight hours you can put in a year, and increasing limitations on the strenousness of the maneuvers. An example is what is happening with the F-15s now. Overall, without a fix, you may be faced a situation of decreasing pilot quality in the incoming decade.

So while the primary steeds would have to be babied to stretch their limited pool of flight hours, you would need a secondary plane that you can use to seriously train, planes that are cheap, economical to operate, reliable and will provide a lot of flight hours. At the same time, the performance and sophistication of these planes and their avionics can very well approximate that of the primary mounts.

Rick, do you ever realize that the number “10” is deliberately used for this photo because it means the 10 in J-10? This is a deliberate propaganda pic—the unit numbers are wiped off and so is the camouflage pattern. It also does not match any previous J-10 photo I have.

But this being a propaganda pic—with all the touches of a PLA mandated style of propaganda, with touch up, hiding of certain details like unit numbers—is quite significant because the PLA never chosen to propagandize the J-10, because to propagandize the J-10 is to officially acknowledge it openly.

If you ever seen ad work, you will also understand the significance of the white background. That’s because the photo of the J-10 is intended to be overlayed over something else, like a company poster.

China has a whole series of radar types – ground, naval and airborne – that have been exported too. It also has two BVRAAMs, the SD-10 and FD-60, that are up for export.

You forgot a list of antiship missiles up for export like the C-801, C-802, the FL-2 and the FL-7. China also sells IR AAMs like the PL-5, PL-7 and PL-9.

As for helos, there is the Z-11 and the upcoming WZ-10 attack helo.

J-7PG Mig-21F[b]

There is nothing left of the J-7E/G, F-7MG/PG with the MiG-21F but the airframe appearance. For example, the airframe is strengthened so it can handle up to 8G, from the 6-7G of the original plane. Empty weight has gone up as a consquence from 4700kg to over 5300kg. But the engine is much more powerful too, with at least 6600kg and double the MBTO of the original engine. The wing is all new, a double delta with automatic slats.

Chinese planes with a Russian origin. at this point in time, are highly indigenized. They have been so heavily modified throughout the years, that one can say only the basic shell remains. This does not mean they should take credit away from the original Russian designers, but then again, MiG never planned for its MiG-19 to have a couple of 3,750kg thrust engines, which can give a J-6 or a Fantan a near 1:1 thrust to weight ratio—greater than any MiG-21, or push the MiG-21 design to new levels of maneuverability. Or for that matter, that a MiG-19 derivative (the Fantan) can be dropping laser guided bombs.

For example, J-7s in Chinese service use their own indigenous radar, the JL-7A or Type 226, which has look down capability and the ability to cue an all aspect IR seeker (PL-8). The original MiG-21F does not have look down on its radar, the ability to que an all aspect IR AAM. The latest J-7Gs use slotted planar arrays.

What was the arrangement between Russia and China when the former transferred technology for the MiG series aircraft (MiG-19, MiG-21) etc.? Was China allowed to resell the aircraft? Or did the fact that Russia and China became enemies sometime later override the original agreement?

Russia never thought that China would resell their planes but they never worded those in the contracts either, if there was ever a contract. As communists, things like licensing are so capitalist. After all, all intellectual property rightly belongs to the People and the Proleteriat, hehe. The Eastern Europeans also went to manufacture—and export—Soviet designed stuff.

This is what you call the AK-47 dilemna. The Russians actually tried claim royalties for the AK-47 from every country that ever made the gun—and there was a lot of them. It was of course, unenforceable.

Which aircraft were completely new in the sense that they are not direct clones/derivatives of Russian aircraft (before the latest ones – FC1 and J-10 that I know are not derived directly from Russian aircraft)?

The original Shenyang J-12 built in the Sixties was China’s first truly indigenous fighter jet, though it had one engine that was derived from the MiG-19S (Wopen-6). It was technically successful—the plane managed to fly supersonic and proved to be agile and maneuverable. But the concept of a day fighter with limited radar was already outdated, so they went on to design the next—-with bigger radar.

The next Chinese indigenous fighter was the original J-8. It still look liked the MiG-21 in configuration, but it was much larger, heavier and had two engines. It’s really an all new jet except for the Wopen-7 engines, which were derived from the MiG-21’s R-11 Tumanskies.

Then came the J-8II, which actually does not share a single part with the J-8I but the engines. Despite the Fishbed configuration, both J-8s are high speed interceptors more in the tradition of the Starfighter and the Su-15 Flagon.

Both planes were marked with the development of China’s first indigenous pulse doppler radars (the J-6 and J-7 radars had been monopulse) with look down capability, the Type 204 radar, followed by the Type 208. The Type 208 was also China’s first radar capable of using a SARH BVR missile, the PL-10. Neither are really successful but the Type 208 radar on the J-8II was eventually replaced by China’s first operationally successful slotted array pulse doppler, the Type 1471 radar, which was developed for the J-8II. J-8II prototype also tested various FBW systems, as well as digital cockpits.

The Chinese started going western with the JH-7, a strike jet which had British engines. The plane looks unique on its own, sharing the Tornado philosophy without the variable wings. The JH-7 is China’s first aircraft to have an FBW, with a triplex digital system appliable on the pitch only. The Type 232H radar is China’s first multrole radar capable of launching an antiship missile. This was later replaced by the JL-10A radar, which features a slotted planar array, multiple target tracking (4 or 6 targets), track while scan (up to 15 targets), support for ARH and SARH BVRAAMs (PL-12 and PL-11), IR AAMs (cueing for PL-8s), and AshMs like the C-803, look down and various ground and sea search and targeting modes. The JH-7 is now complemented by the JH-7A, which features a quadruplex digital FBW with terrain avoidance (terrain avoidance was originally planned for the JH-7 but was not successful).

The K-8 trainer is already mentioned.

The Ka-29 looks cool too… Has anyone got pictures of the supposed variant with a 30mm cannon? (I have pictures of the version with the 4 barrel 30 cal gatling gun.)

So the Ka-31s with gatling guns are not some fantasy creation in C&C Generals Zero Hour and actually has some basis in reality?

Look at this J-10 “poster pic” and you will realize both pics are very similar. But there are enough slight differences in the angles of the planes (as indicated by the wheels) to suggest that the yellow J-10 and J-10 “10” here are not the same planes or even of the same photograph. But they are both the work of the same photographer who has decided that this is a great angle for a poster shot.

I have another J-10 pic of this very same angle, but the very plane is J-10 1013. The pic is too big (200k) to post here, but nonetheless, there are slight differences in angles that tell you all three are different pictures and different aircraft. Again, that pic is very sharp, very well composed, the work of the same photographer refining this very same theme.

Sounds like a very cool movie. When will it hit the theatres?

“Multimode” basically means having many radar or fire control modes. (Velocity Search mode, Range while Search mode, Track while scan mode, Bugged TWS mode, Single Target Tracking mode, Boresight mode, Vertical scan mode, Slewable Vertical Scan mode, Helmet Sighting mode, Terrain Mapping mode, Beam Sharpening mode, Synthetic Aperture mode, etc,.)