Thanks Plawolf!
so its most likely confirmed that there is no ASEA for Block II, this is not suprising as Kamra has just set up production of the KJL7 radar, they assemble them now there too, this was after a Western radar was evaluated and it was decided that KJL-7 is more than capable than its Western counterparts
so this leaves Mid-air refueling and datalink upgrades for Block II with WS13 also out of the equation
but for Link16 this is suprising, as far as I know Pakistan seperated the F16s and JF17, split half and half, the packages were Erieye, F16s and buying KC-130 tankers from US and ZDK-03, JF17 and IL-78 Midas
it does make sense to have communication between F16 and JF17 pilots but i thought this was solved using ground based system and not a direct link between the two
and I think the reason why Block I did not have datalink is because it was rushed into service ASAP and not to do with China working around Link16, because Pakistan got 30 refueling pods from South Africa in 2009 to equip Mirage III Rose I and the IL-78 started arriving in 2010 and the first PAC built sqaudron didnt go operational until first half of 2010, so technically speaking we could have had refueling for JF17 on the Block I, but then question is were PAF pilots trained?? I think yes because they trained refueling with USAF, but then if now indeed this new is true about JF17 and F16 communication you maybe right
it has been a long standing issue over how JF17 pilots would communicate with F16 pilots, in time of war you cant always rely on a ground station to relay the information so a direct link is important, this could be where Block II aircraft become very versatile and has thrown in a suprise there for us, however it remains to be seen wether this is just fighter to fighter communication or fighter to AWACS, like for example F16 with ZDK-03?? which is a bit of a push and i think unlikely
the final part where it says thet 36 have been built is probably correct, because AFM showed a picture of SP-29 in May issue even although the JF17 at Dubai airshow was 33!!!
this means Kamra will have built all 50 JF17 in 2012, we around a dozen JF17 still to make at Kamra for the remaining of the year which is very doable
