By its very nature news is something people want to discuss… maybe to avoid cluttering this thread there could be a parallel thread just for discussing news that Tango III posts?

I highly doubt the M2K thing, the new Iraqi airforce is highly US centric.

To induct two fighter types one of which second hand with different logistics trails makes little sense.

Also any M2K would have to be paid for by the Iraqi government whilst F16 will come as US defence aid.

A good chunk of the new Iraqi government bureaucracy is left over from he Saddam days and they have always had good working trade relations with European defence companies including Dassault, perhaps this is an attempt by the Iraqis to meet their requirements (the retiring ex-French Air Force Mirage 2000Cs) and please their transatlantic political benefactors (the United States). The main concern I guess for the Iraqis is not threatening their neighbours as Iraq historically done while at the same time maintaining a robust Air Force to defend itself from its external and internal enemies which is why all these aircraft are refurbished and not new…. also they’re most likely marked down and Iraq has a lot of other financial concerns involved in rebuilding than just defence.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/12/07/350656/wikileaks-embraer-favoured-super-hornet-for-brazilian-fighter-contract.html

A wikileaks document is saying that chief executive of Embraer Frederico Fleury Curado stated that he hopes the F/A-18E/F would win the FX-2 bid as early as January of last year. This is not surprising at all given that Boeing has publicly stated already that they intend to work with Embraer on a new fighter project a short while back but he also stresses that it would add ‘value’ to the Super Tucanos the United States is purchasing. Technology transfer is another large factor. Mind you this document is nearly two years old and Dassault and Saab have upped the ante with their technology transfer promises but it seems the promise of technology transfer towards developing a new Brazilian fighter aircraft with Boeing is the most enticing factor to Embraer.

Or maybe the date is simply deliberately given to be misleading?

That is a possibility but the canceled Shenyang J-13 project would match this model, in the late stages of its development before it was finally canceled in the early 90s the J-13 was supposed to have a chin intake, forward fuselage and double delta wings.

I really don’t see any need for disinformation on a photo purportedly from 1984.

[Indeed, many of America’s allies in the ME have sent signals to Washington that they were ‘uncomfortable’ with the Iraqi Air Force being able to re-equip with modern aircraft that could be used for offensive capabilities. While as we all know the F-16s for the rebuilt Iraqi air force are in the bag a LAAR style aircraft or even basic/intermediate armed jet fighter trainers could be used without offending Iraq’s neighbours who still quiet vividly remember the invasion of Kuwait two decades ago. With the right electronic counter-measure equipment and their excellent loiter time LAAR aircraft would be a non-threatening and inexpensive (another big factor as military funding often comes into conflict with civilian reconstruction spending) aircraft to patrol Iraq with.

The Xian JH-7A is still in production, it is, after all, not a terribly old aircraft, the first JH-7 having entered service in 1994. There are rumours (ranging from pretty credible to ludicrous) that Xian is developing a more advanced JH-7B that include ‘stealth’ technology. The JH-7A afterall is most notable over the original JH-7 production aircraft is increase use of lighter weight composite materials and advancements in avionics and weapons configuration, therefore it would not be a surprise that Xian would continue to tinker with the material of the airframe itself (such as a DSI inlet), incorporating stealth features in its construction and design.

As for the engines, only 50 Spey Mk 202 were sent to China. The rest of the JH-7s produced used and so far, still use the indigemously built, licensed built WS-9. There have been complaints from the start really about the WS-9 not being able to provide enough thrust for the JH-7 and that performance could be improved significantly with a newer, more powerful engine but so far, no other engine has ever been tested as far as I know. For the AL-31, it would ‘fit’ if the aircraft was changed a bit (which itself would take a bit of time to redesign) but China has made no indications that they want the AL-31 for the JH-7. A safe bet would be that China is banking on the finalization of the WS-10 engine.

For numbers, I don’t have anything up to date but for a quick copy/paste:

Version Quantity Assembly Location Time Period
JH-7 prototypes 5 Xi’an 1985-1989
JH-7 pre-production 20 Xi’an 1997-2001
JH-7 production 35-40 Xi’an 2001-2003
JH-7A prototypes 2 (4?) Xi’an 2001-2002
JH-7A production 34+ Xi’an 2003-2005+
Total: 96-103+

therefore we can assume in the past 5 years, given its 2003-2005 production numbers we can guess that at LEAST 85 more JH-7As have been built since 2005.

The M-346 is significantly cheaper than T-50. The warfighting capability demanded by the ROK Air Force is not free.

Indeed, it seems what the South Koreans like to play as the T-50s strength (its very high performance and multi-role capabilities) are actually detrimental to its sales due to its high price.

One interesting note though is that after selecting the M-346, the UAE then decided to reopen the contest, earlier this year after there were some disagreements over specifications and components that the Emirates weren’t too happy about. Perhaps Alenia-Aermacchi have been ‘over stating’ the M-346’s capabilities to others as well?