Akasa
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2008
- Messages
- 7,227
- Reaction score
- 9
- Country
- Location
The J-10s are operational but they are having pretty bad teething issues with the newer versions.
Please explain what you mean by "teething" issues. Placards and photos from the 2014 Zhuhai airshow confirm that the J-10A is capable of employing a variety of weapons; everything from satellite-guided glide bombs to SDBs to BVRAAMs. The J-10B/C, which was already tested with even newer weapons such as the PL-10 high-off boresight missile and PL-15 BVRAAM, should be even more versatile.
The thread itself is rather vague in premise, but if one was to summarize a single aircraft in Asia that meets the following
1. Highly advanced in terms of onboard systems
2. Highly Manoeuvrable in Air to Air combat
3. Equipped with advanced weaponry
4. Reliable and ready for combat.
Then the only aircraft that gets an aggregate high score in all these categories is the F-16D Block-52+ of Pakistan and Singapore and South Korea. I would have first gone with the F-15SG operated by Singapore or the F-15K but both arent as manoeuvrable in terms of their A2A capability due to being heavier variants of the F-15 even though they offset it easily with their munitions capability. Very close is the Indian upgraded Mirage-2000-5 since those are as deadly as the F-16s in certain respects and if not for my own preference for sustained energy capability rather than instantaneous.. I might have ranked the Mirage 2000 at the top.
What made you think the J-10A/B/C isn't capable of achieving what you've mentioned? Like many of the aforementioned aircraft, upgraded variants of the J-10 offer airframe enhancements resulting in weight reduction and RCS optimization, engine upgrades, AESA radars, sensor upgrades, EW/ECM refits, new cockpit displays, as well as software compatibility with next-generation weapons. Even if we ignore the technical nuances amongst these subsystems, there is no reason to believe the J-10 isn't capable of achieving what other planes of comparable upgrades can.
Other aircraft such as the J-20 are not operational as of yet, the Su-30MKI and J-11Ds are not reliable at all and so far the Rafale is not going to be in the picture for another 5 years.
What is so "unreliable" about the J-11D or Su-30MKI? The J-11D hasn't even entered service yet.