by78
General
Sending J-10Cs to Russia might be a bridge too far. Many of its onboard systems – especially the radar – are considered more sensitive than those of J-10Bs.
J-10 Thread IV
- Thread starter Jeff Head
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Sending J-10Cs to Russia might be a bridge too far. Many of its onboard systems – especially the radar – are considered more sensitive than those of J-10Bs.
J-16 has the best avionics/radar of any Chinese fourth gen and they sent the J-16. That’s not to mention that they used the J-20 in a joint exercise at Qingtongxia recently. Nothing is more sensitive than the J-20.
by78
General
Well, we don't know how and to what extent J-20 was used in that exercise. For all we know, they were flying mundane escort missions for other assets. Also, that exercise took place in China, whereas sending J-10Cs into Russia could be troublesome from OPSEC point of view. IIRC, J-10C does share quite a bit of avionic and sensor technologies with the J-20, which is why I said the sensitivity could be more elevated in this case.
I can't say for sure whether J-16 has the best avionics/sensor package of any Chinese 4th-gen platforms. It's certainly a highly capable airframe due to its size and intended mission profiles.
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Considering the J-10Bs are landed at a russian airport, on russian soil, it isn't quite the same as what we know about the extent of J-20 involvement in the exercises so far (which seems to be much more limited in terms of direct exposure to the Russian side).
That said I also don't think the selection of J-10B over J-10C is that important here.
The PLA sent J-10Cs to exercises with Thailand before, I'm sure they'd be comfortable sending J-10Cs to Russia.
Chances are it was just luck of the draw sending Bs rather than Cs.
This has been confirmed by the pilot Bai Long, who has clocked time on J-2, J-10C, and J-16 so I assume he knows what he is taking about. All things equal, J-16 has a larger radome/radar than the J-10C.
Actually it makes sense with Thailand. They used the Gripen C. Aviadarts do not perform any electronically exhausting "testing" on participating fighters.
A pretty full on Red Flag like exercise with Thai airforce with Gripen C offers a lot more insight and evaluation of own platforms against a reasonably modern western one. It could just be the Aviadarts exercises are not quite as demanding and do not represent the same opportunities for learning and evaluation of tactics that the J-10C may gain something out of.
The J-16 appearing also isn't too surprising. J-16 is a multirole and could be participating for strike role exercises. It could be equally sensitive but there are many reasons why they wouldn't send J-10C. J-16 going is unprecedented but it could be there to evaluate against Russian modern flankers, perform only strike roles, at the request of Russians for whatever reason who knows.
They might be comfortable sending J-10C to Russia as much as J-16 if the security concerns are equal. The roles mentioned above might have a little to do with why they sent the B variant instead.
My point about sending J-10Cs to Thailand, was that if they were comfortable from a security perspective to send J-10Cs to Thailand, there is no reason they wouldn't be comfortable from a security perspective to send them to Russia.
Indeed they are otherwise they wouldn't send J-16 to Russia which I would assume have similar overall levels of security concerns. That's the proof rather than sending to Thailand. We cannot assume the opsec concerns would be the same for Russia and Thailand. Russia is far more capable and far less likely to be totally cooperative in this if they have any ill intentions to get information and electronic signatures and compile accurate RCS models from the J-10B which I imagine would be near identical to the RCS of J-10C but electronic ones would surely be very different. Yes neither are stealth fighters but even these figures are relatively classified. Like all flankers, there's no point for the J-16, a behemoth in RCS regardless of how much RAM might be involved in the latest Chinese flanker.
My point on why they would send J-10B rather than J-10C to Russia is because the exercises involved simply would not require anything sophisticated. The exercises also are not opportunities to learn anything from and to evaluate your aircraft and tactics. Flying simulated missions, A2A combat etc again Thai Gripen C does present learning and evaluation opportunities. Which is possibly why the B version was sent. The J-16 being sent could be due to exercises in strike role being considered worthwhile enough and/or challenging enough to send something a bit more capable than the usual JH-7A and Su-30MKK or whatever older platforms normally sent to participate in strike roles.
It could also be that Russia requested a J-16 appearance who knows. Anyway plenty of reasons for each decision and plenty of variation within reasons.
