The thing is Pakistan will never use only one country products. Even if they go for TFX still J31 and some futuristic JF-17 will continue to be purchased.
It is a twin engine fighter, in jan 2015 Aselsan announced that they have signed a deal with eurojet and TFX will use a derivative of EJ200(engine currently used in Eurofighter). With the use of EJ200 Turkey intends to give TFX supercruise capability just like Eurofighter. Moreover ASELSAN is currently developing a highly advanced AESA radar which will use gallium nitride (GaN) technology for the TFX program. So now with a british engine once again it would be a problem that whether they'll allow turkey to export TFX to Pakistan with their engine?, a similar situation raised when Pakistan showed interest in Gripen. USA did not allowed Sweden to sell Gripen with american engine as at that time Pakistan was under arms embargo.
PAF would never go for just one fighter and stick to TAI TFX, they will certainly get a chinese 5th gen fighter whether J-20 or J-31 whatever China offers and suits us, even if in future USA PAK relations reach a point where they offer F-35 Pakistan wont turn down the offer.
In a nut shell_____ hate to spoil the party but ain't gonna happen. From drawing board to a fifth generation fighter is at least 15-20 yrs. You are looking at 2-3billions$ in collaboration money and the chance that the product may still not be fit for use. So PAF wont take that risk at all. The only reason the Chinese are a much jucier offer is that they have done most of the graft work on the J20 and their trickle down technology transfer methodology reduces cost. It is a testament of economical pressures that PLAAF is not funding J31 but this is a venture by CATIC alone. This is why they are so eager to have PAF on board and PAF wants to bide their time to let them develop the platform before it jumps in. I dont think there would be any TOT as you guys like to call it but minor level depot maintenance
Well at the moment everyone knows that Pakistan neither has the budget nor the technology to built a 5th generation aircraft so they'll be more than happy if they are able to get their hands on a 5th gen aircraft in a couple of decades.
The fifth generation plane will be here by 2023-25. Any later and its time to do to it what we did to J10sand move to 6th generation. i have always thought that the fifth generation platforms are overrated as development in the Radar technology will bring the whole thing down like a house of cards. I think this is more likely to happen as these platforms are expensive to acquire, and maintain and once detected we will find that the utility and cost versus benefit graph will go right down in the boots. However this is my thinking and you are free to disagree.
Considering the problems the Chinese have encountered with engines the Turkish venture will not materialize any time soon. As to the Ukrainian venture, the current situation in Ukraine and how long it lasts will determine the progress of all things Ukrainian. If it is a new project you are looking at 2025, if it is a modification then around 2020-23. If what we have been hearing from the red bear is true then the MA version to be completed by 2019 might be the best option for us considering the RD93 series and PAF's happiness with it. Alternately we will be looking forward with great enthusiasm towards our Chinese brethren for their offering around that time. I think it is more than likely that it will be RD93MA as we would already have had dealings with the Russians for 3-4 yrs directly and probably swing a local overhaul facility for them in house.The advantage of a Chinese offering would mostly be to get discounts plus local manufacturing of some parts. We will have to deal with them smartly to get what we want out of them.
It is wise if they are offering 3 engines but out of those 3 only 1 exists. I don't doubt Turkey's capabilities but making jet engines isn't as easy as it may sound even China is struggling despite the resources and expertise it has, in a thread here I have read that the reason they are interested in Su-35 is because of its engine. So relaying on Turkey for a jet engine is a bit too early.
PAF has kept that in mind, Chinese are planning to use WS-13 in J-31 and PAF plans to replace RD-93 with WS-13 as well. So if all goes according to plan not all but majority of PAF jets will have same engine.
You have misunderstood me. The question is not one of money but of wise spending of it. PAF is risk averse so will not indulge in a project which is resource intense with an unlikely outcome. In a nutshell it would rather spend 2-3 billion and get a ready platform than indulge in research(especially if we dont have much to contribute to it ) on one which has an uncertain outcome both from the platform point of view and financial outlay. No one is getting j20.J31/some other platform has been on the cards and most probably will be inducted post 2020. Given that J31 has flown already PAF will likely go for it rahter than design another platform with its own latency factored in hence my prediction of 2023-25 for induction of J31. The other thing you need to consider is what the state of scientific knowledge is going to be like in a decade. This will also be a factor in the decision makingBro,
The thing that confuses me is you are saying Pakistan does not have $2-3 bil for a project but on the other hand you are saying China can give the J-31 or J-20 with TOT.
What we have been discussing in the last few pages is that PAF would like to have a single engine 5 th Gen fighter along with a multi-engine 5 th Gen. These aircraft could be a mix of western or eastern. I had suggested that if PAF could some how invest and proceed with the TFX single engine design then it could save a lot of research cost which is going to be spent on the current TFX multi-engine fighter aircraft.
It was also reported that PAF is considering the J-31 and there is also a possibility of a 5th Gen single engine designed by CATIC.
Both these projects can be made to work if Pakistan is able to get some king of soft loan because in the next 5-10 yrs the economy of Pakistan would be improving.
Here again you are saying that PAF should be considering 6th Gen platforms. We all know that 6th Gen aircraft are nothing more than drones. Now the argument of having a pilot or not is for an other thread.
Having both these together is also not a problem and 5th gen are not going to end any time before 2050.
Till that time live in the moment
