SteelBird
Colonel
I won't hold my breath for what the article calls J-10C until, at least, we see some photos.
J-10 Thread III (Closed to posting)
- Thread starter crobato
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I won't hold my breath for what the article calls J-10C until, at least, we see some photos.
Judging from the headline it seems that someone made a hasty translation of a typical B.S. article from tiexue.
IMHO , all those speculations about J-10C are complete B.S. First off all , J-10B is not properly introduced into PLAAF . We don't know what kind of radar it has , would it get upgraded engines (Russian or Chinese ? ) , would it serve in mixed regiments with J-10A or not etc ...
I'm not saying there won't be J-10C , but PLAAF would first have to operationally test J-10B . After that , they may decide they don't need new version of J-10 , that J-10B is good enough with certain upgrades until 5th gen fighter comes along . Also , their first priority could be to upgrade existing J-10As to a standard comparable with J-10B , or to quickly replace&retire existing J-7s etc ...
Therefore , plans for J-10C could exist , but J-10C would not take its final shape at least 2 years from now , until we get definitive feedback from J-10B usage . Even naval J-10 (let's call it J-10N) will not be finalized so fast . So far , PLAAN has only one carrier (by their own admission it is just a training ship) and there is still no definite sign of another . Therefore , there is still plenty of time to decide what kind of naval J-10 they need (STOBAR , CATOBAR ... ) if they need them at all .
That assumes j10C is developed sequentially after j10B and relies on incremental improvement over j10B. If j10C is a parallel development from J10A and distinguished from J10B by different mission/performance emphasis, the it could certainly appear near concurrently with J10B.
It looks like the aircraft with green center fuselage is just a serial J-10B (1-03). Perhaps that's how they look when the primer is not fully applied i guess. Still would like to see pics of this rumoured J-10C 2-01 though.
SinoSoldier
Colonel
CAC has redeemed itself; there's no way that aircraft is a "comprehensive" upgrade aka J-10C!
Imo, the picture on Huitong's blog (labelled as J-10C) shows just this aircraft 1-03, the yellow shades on the nose and intake seem identical. Whether there's a real J-10C or not we'll see... maybe about january 11.
Btw, not sure how accurate the info is but on chinesedefence someone said already SIX J-10B were spotted (numbers going to from 1-01 to 1-06)
Btw, not sure how accurate the info is but on chinesedefence someone said already SIX J-10B were spotted (numbers going to from 1-01 to 1-06)
thunderchief
Senior Member
And why would they do parallel development ? J-10B should already have everything you could expect from single-engined 4.5 gen fighter . Only thing J-10B lacks is capability to operate from aircraft carriers , and I said before why I don't think PLAN would want definite version of naval J-10 right now .
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