this WS10A trials what stage is it at per reliable sources ?
how many hours of flight tests it has done and how much
more is expected?

what is considered “reliable” in the china arms industry context:

…..(a) internet posters who have ‘friends’ in industry
…..(b) Kanwa , sinodefence et al
…..(c) CCTV or other channels
…..(d) mandarin language ‘leak’ sites like star bbs
…..(e) janes, defencenews
…..(f) scientific journals in the field of engine & materials research,
proceedings of conferences.
…..(g) websites of chengdu, SAC etc.

Just curious.

I would go easy on abusing Kya Bidu – some say a green eyed
baboon is better than being a three-legged panda 😉

is anyone very sure the J-10 is only 7000kg empty ? thats not
much more the the FC-1 which has a smaller airframe and a smaller engine.

the all-up (fuel + weapons) of J10 is claimed by internet sites to
be 18.4 tons . i,e a/c carries 2.62 times it own empty weight.

the figures for Rafale are 9.8t and 21.5t for a ratio of 2.19
and for EF 10.9t , 23t for ratio of 2.11

if we scale down J-10s ratio to 2.11 its max weight takeoff
would be 14.7t including about 4 tons(?) of fuel. max payload
= 3.7tons (~8000lb)

F16C/D with a 27000lb engine has max takeoff 16.8tons.
AL31 also has similar thrust. But its empty weight is 8.2tons

jmho – the J-10 is heavier than claimed likely ~8 tons
– its max takeoff weight is lower than the hefty 18.4tons

lesser range and lesser payload would be outcome. has Chengdu
published the J-10 specs in their website ?

YF23 is my choice.

even if it matches the F22 in 2020, the F22 itself or some other platform would have evolved to something 20 years superior to what is flying today. there is only a certain pace at which new players can close the gap.

To really hope for parity with USAF/USN, the US defence budget
and economy has to be in severe decline for 20-30 yr period such that new projects and innovation are stifled and fielded strength declines to such levels that US isnt dominant outside its own hemisphere. that AND the competitor has to spend heavily on its own programs.

Now china’s growth is dependent on ever increasing amt of exports to US market, it holds a gigantic amt of its forex reserves like $300bil in US treasuries to prop up the US economy and fuel the consumer boom.

If the US economy goes down toilet, so will chinas and japans the two biggest exporters perhaps to US market. 😀

Vympel interesting. means the PLAN decided to put a not-fully-certified reactor & powerplant onto the Han hull and try to tinker and fix it in the sea rather than land mockup. not surprising given their incremental improvement strategy in other areas like planes and tanks.

so I guess the first Han became operational in the conventional sense around 1984 and before that a test vessel.

the availability of western electronic systems has freed the russian industry from depending on their own proprietary and lagging HW/SW like development & test tools, compilers, processors, DSPs etc. though still not as good as the bleeding edge western systems , russia has improved the sophistication of its kit. In time, as the industry and their economy becomes rich once more , great products will again flow.

russia always had the deep intellectual resources in sciences.
they have enough pedigree in aviation to dwarf the EU effort
many times over -just look at the number of engine and missile
design bureaus and the sheer number of plane types built in
last 30-40 yrs.