China Flanker Thread III (land based, exclude J-15)

[00CuriousObserver]

As a piece of supporting rumour (and I am really just mentioning this as support), a couple days ago 约克 said that production for the J-16 has already stopped, and only J-16Ds are still in production.

https:// youtu.be/C7HqYH2VJRw?t=4214

The video is members-only right now. They'll upload that part publicly in a couple of days.

 

[Blitzo]

As a piece of supporting rumour (and I am really just mentioning this as support), a couple days ago 约克 said that production for the J-16 has already stopped, and only J-16Ds are still in production.

https:// youtu.be/C7HqYH2VJRw?t=4214

The video is members-only right now. They'll upload that part publicly in a couple of days.

J-16D production/service has seemingly been on a relatively slow/light side since introduction.

If some ceased J-16 production slots have been converted to J-16D, if anything that would probably be more desirable to build up a required force for heavy land based tactical jammers rather than putting all J-16 production slots to J-35 family.

 

[Totoro]

So far scrmble.nl suggests photo evidence for just one brigade switching to j16 in 2025. But i guess there is high likelihood more switched, but we simply didn't get photos yet.

That said, j16 going out of production certainly makes sense if j35 is ready and if j20a is as multirole as suggested.

The only thing a bit strange for me is j35 production ramping up so quickly. Usually its like 4, 8, 16, 30 etc in four years. Even if it's double that pace we still should not be over 30 something for 2026.

Flanker production before j35 started was probably well upward of 50, with 16, 15 and D models included.