i did a little search and found this.
according to this, 140 + 150 = 290 AL-31F for what I suspect as replacements
China Flanker Thread II
- Thread starter sumdud
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i did a little search and found this.
according to this, 140 + 150 = 290 AL-31F for what I suspect as replacements
So how many Su-27SK did China get? Include the very original ones and the licensed production ones, which all uses AL-31F.
Also that link suggest China have signed more contracts for the Engine all the way until 2015, this is not encouraging, I thought they would be fully self sufficient by then.
Interesting this is one of the areas for China, where just throwing money was not as effective as they had with other sub systems.
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Russian know they can't play punk with china like they did to India. When forced to a corner, china rather spend the time and money on their own than submit to Russian. This is what they experience with IL-76 plane deal and carrier arrestor hook system when Russian try to jack up the price when agreement is signed.
I see it as china continue to buy Russia engine as Russian themselves do not want to lose china as a long term customer. They are offering china a very reasonable prices per engine. Despite china has a fat military budget, they are still very prudent in spending. If russian are selling AL-31F/FN engine with even cheaper price per unit than WS-10A. I don't see why china decide to stop buying engines for their SU-27SK/ J-11A and Su-30MKK.
The very fact we have see new J-11B/ BS with even prototype of J-16, J-15, J-15S running with WS-10A. I do not see any problem with WS-10A production.
jack, this kind of stuff is very easy to find in public. Please go do some research on it. You can search on this forum or the web.
As for the contract, I don't see why this would be not encouraging. They have planes that use AL-31F that need to have their engines replaced. So, they buy from the original vendors to replace them.
plawolf
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Interesting, have not seen that before.
It seems the Russians were not as cross with SAC as they (and their fanboys) led the world to believe with all the 'J11B is illegal knock-off' waves they had been making.
It is also interesting that the Russians have been making less and less noise about the J11B, and were even offering Su35s not long ago.
This only seems to confirm my guess at the time that the main reason the Russians were making such a fuss at the time was because they were really afraid that the Chinese would put the J11B on the market and threaten their precious Flanker sales.
Now that it is clear the Chinese have no intension of doing so, they are suddenly more than eager to do business with SAC again as if nothing had happened.
Actually Vini, all radomes likely receive at least a clear coat, while they will not corrode, the sun and air pollution will break them down chemically, and wind and water will cause surface erosion, they are always given a clear coat, and usually a sun block as well, but you are right in principle, and hand laid carbon fiber is a thing of beauty and great strength!
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