Thanks for the definition A.Man, that is very helpful. Although it would be better if we knew what the standard air superiority load for the J10A is, triple tanks and 4 missiles or just the belly tank and 6 missiles?
Either way, it gives us a good solid practical figure instead of some theoretical figure that is meaningless in an operational environment, which is very useful and a little surprising tbh, since I would have expected the PLAAF to be more open with theoretical figures like max ferry range or range on internal fuel only etc, and keep operational useful figures like this closer to their chests.
The basic range of 1650km itself is within the range of what I expected for the J10, which is a combat radius of over 1500km. When you consider that the PLAAF does not have any major air bases within 300km of the coast facing Taiwan, with most large bases even further away, it would make no sense for them to make their primary air superiority fighter have a range less than 1000km or else it would not be able to play a meaningful part in any Taiwan scenario, which would have been a primary design objective for the J10.
If we have another look at the figures, it would appear that they all seem to be practical values rather than theoretical bests. This makes me suspect that the normal take-off weight of 12,400kg may actually be the weight of the J10A loaded to achieve basic range of 1650km with an air superiority load. It would not be a stretch to imagine that the M1.8 figure might also represent operationally achievable max speed.
The airframe may well be able to go faster clean (wasn't it reported a while back that the J10A broke the speed record for a PLAAF plane? which would suggest it can go faster than a Flanker or J8II, both of which can better M1.8), but M1.8 might be the best you get get out of it once you hang a useful warload under the wings.
