Thanks alot, Israel...
Russian and Israeli electronics will do a lot to keep the J-10 a valuable fighter for a few decades but being designed in the late '80's / early '90s and being comparable with an F 16 it will never be able to make the leap towards the new generation on 21 century fighters.
Furthermore I fear no war with China. China needs to keep it's more and more vocal population quiet by turning them into consumers. Any war wouls throw the Chinese economy completely out of gear...
The problem with the J-10 is that it might compete on the world market with westers fighters. But whether that is a big problem? I doubt it.
My conclusion is: let the Chinese build the Lavi/J-10. Makes them less dependant of Russia. And the plane will never be a serious challenge for the newest generation of US fighters.
I even bet that the US tacidly agreed with the sale of the license building of the Lavi in China. The days of the US-Israeli Lavi war are long gone...
|