JF-17/FC-1 Fighter Aircraft thread
- Thread starter johnqh
- Start date
By the way, do we know, where and when this image was taken?
AFAIK no. 0002 was for long - and maybe still is - at CAC, but I'm not entirely sure.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
No they don’t. The F35A in service for the IDF is stock F35A. They plan with permission from the US to produce the F35I an A variant with Israeli upgrades.
MastanKhan
Junior Member
Hi,
So what does " Israeli upgrades " mean---something different than what I stated---?
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Context is king. It’s different because of tense. In your case you meant current/Past tense.
The IDF doesn’t have those new systems in production or even testing yet. They probably won’t be available until 2030. So compared to current F35 they would be upgrades. What the IDAF has are 16 F35A models, and permission down the road to make changes.
But again tense. Past Present and Future.
Here's some more 'context' for you: Israel has sold more classified US tech to China than any other country. This has been going on since the 70s. They don't just sell off parts, they re-engineer them and sell your designs as their own property. The CIA, Pentagon and the State Department have all known about this for decades. The funniest thing though, is that the guy who first investigated this was reprimanded by an American congressman for "harming Israel". So good luck investigating/preventing Israel from selling classified F-35 tech (and there's your 'future tense'). Here's a paper on the history of this "systematic" problem:
At this point though, China probably doesn't even need US tech. The way things are going, America is probably going to be stealing Chinese tech in the near future.
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plawolf
Lieutenant General
Isn’t China supposed to have downloaded all F35 data direct from LockMart already anyways? 
Anyways, back on topic, in the question of visibility between F16 and JF17, there is no question that the F16 bubble canopy offers far better all round visibility. However, there is still one disadvantage to that design - no mirrors.
Probably merely an academic difference in a one-on-one fight, but I can see it being valuable in a multi-ship engagement.
Mirrors might be redundant on 5th gens like J20s and F35s with all round camera systems and HMDs, but it is still a good dirt cheap addition for the likes of the JF17 that can give its pilots a slight advanced warning in the right circumstances that might just save him and his plane.
Anyways, back on topic, in the question of visibility between F16 and JF17, there is no question that the F16 bubble canopy offers far better all round visibility. However, there is still one disadvantage to that design - no mirrors.
Probably merely an academic difference in a one-on-one fight, but I can see it being valuable in a multi-ship engagement.
Mirrors might be redundant on 5th gens like J20s and F35s with all round camera systems and HMDs, but it is still a good dirt cheap addition for the likes of the JF17 that can give its pilots a slight advanced warning in the right circumstances that might just save him and his plane.