To a certain extent, I would say it still matters on how good the pilot is at his/her job. If I were shopping for an air arm, I would seriously look at the Gripen. Especially a version that would lack U.S. avionics/weapons and engine. I see a huge export market for the JF-17 in all of those nations that cannot afford to operate large Russian Sukhois or have the political ties with the U.S. Nations like Tanzania, Sudan, Angola, Argentina (when they could afford them) even Mali are all good candidates.

true, especially since China sells at highly discounted prices that result in losses of profit or gives them away for free as it does for Pakistan. Thunder wasn’t developed to make money, it was developed to make politics 😮 😀

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/asia/20pakistan.html

Stealth works against frequencies, not brands/models of radar. If an old X-band radar cannot detect a stealthy target at range because the X-band RF energy isn’t present, then a modern X-band radar will fail to detect in a similar manner.

what does it matter what band when RAM absorbs radar waves and converts them into heat? or does RAM only absorb X band radar waves and cannot absorb L band radar waves? :confused:

I wonder if they can shoot through clouds.

oh.. not the 117S again..:rolleyes:
China claim they do not want or need any Su-35S import.. But wait!
We need the engines.. can we pls buy your engines.

Where is that quadruple face palm when i need it.:D

don’t be so cocky. what makes you think Chinese people can’t make good engines? let’s not forget China has almost 10 times the population as Russia and around 30 degrees higher annual temperatures 😮 😀

And when did they start the design of the F22?

in the 1990s based on the YF-22 demonstrator. 😮 your point being? :confused:

That means nothing. India’s LCA comes even later and is not necessarily more advanced because of that. Thunder was designed as mid-tech aircraft from the very start and even its designers never claimed otherwise.

China’s technological level has always been on par with the best in the world. This is not a recent phenomenon. It traces back to a tradition dating thousands of years back. Whatever technologies are in the world, China has. So Thunder being 13 years after Griffin means it is bound to be more advanced than Griffin. There was no holding back on technology for Thunder. Whatever China had at the time it was developed all went into it. This being why Thunder has bump air intakes, a much larger and more capable tail-mounted EW, a much more advanced glass cockpit, MAWS etc., none of which early J-10 has. Money is not an issue in China, as defense contractors in China are state owned rather than being public owned as in the US. Heck, China gave 50 Thunders to Pakistani for FREE.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/asia/20pakistan.html

Actually, since 2000, no traditional intake anymore for your understanding presented on new generation fighters.

F-22 which had first flight in 1997 and became operational in December 2005 does not have bump intakes.

But it doesn’t, it is out-classed in both speed & agility
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=115579&page=7
http://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=jf-17&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCAC%2FPAC_JF-17_Thunder&ei=kv6hT_eAJsT3rQfrn_CIBw&usg=AFQjCNE2uptVXerQ_KJbRIW33ZiZVlNePg&cad=rja

speed and agility are not as important as situation awareness, survivability, and weaponry, which Thunder has focused on since the very beginning with its superior data linking, sensor fusion, and defense aid

It doesnt help to have LERX, DSI unless your overal design is equal to the other plane.

Thunder entered operation 13 years after Griffin did, and therefore should have a much more advanced overall design. 😀