Crobato,
What is your take on the position of J-11B in PLAAF/PLAN vis a vis J-10. While alot of attention is being showered on J-10 and we are seeing reports of Flanker's appaling performances against J-10, do you think J-10 will alter the hi-lo philosphy by encorching upon Flanker's role as hi platform in the two services?
For few reasons that make sense to me i don't think it is possible. Flankers have established tactics,standards and huge infrastructure and then their potential for long ranges with high payloads would also ensure that Flankers remain mainstay of PLAAF/PLAN (atleast one of the two if not the only mainstay).
I think its a shock for the PLAAF who has majorly invested---financially, infrastructurally, and politically---to a varied hi-lo mix. Its not in their plans to have the "lo" outperform the "hi". I believe it gravely damaged the PLAAF confidence on the Flanker type and with it, their long range modernization and development plans, e.g. Su-30MK3. And once that confidence is damaged, so does the confidence of the PLAAF in engagement against Western type fighters such as the F-16 and M2000.
I look at some of the figures tphuang posted such a 31 deg/sec turn rate instantaneous, and that's faster than the Su-27, right up to the Rafale/Typhoon scale.
I believe the fall out hasn't been fully contained yet, but I believe this may have caused a delay on the J-11B project by revising and raising its target goals.
So now the J-11B has to be pushed into being a bomber, surface weapons integration can cause more delays. If the J-11B has a more modest requirement of just A2A first, it should have been out by now. Modifications like adding canards to turn the plane into a more Su-35 configuration, might help on those turn rates. Anyway I expect the J-11 to get canards once they model the airframe to the Su-33 configuration, so the plane layout---Su-33/35 style with canards---is killing two birds with one stone.
I do think that Shenyang needs to get their J-11Bs up for a showdown with the J-10s, and then we can see the fallout from the results. Flying the J-11B would equalize any electronics and radar advantage. Given the same technology state, the larger radar on the J-11B can give a longer range advantage but that is offset by the J-11B's larger radar signature.
I'm a little concerned about the RWR on the J-11B. They better use something more advanced than an L015 Beryoza, the one on the J-10 seems more advanced and is mentioned to be a factor over its battles with the Su-27.
Where it hurts is this---the limited quota of WS-10A engines. If a plant makes 60 engines a year, what do you chose to build---60 J-10s or 30 J-11Bs out of it?
Think about the last question for a moment---that's the question that is going to befall on the PLAAF brass.