Dear All, let's not get defensive about the JF-17 or get into attacking our Indian partners in the forum. Some very important questions have been raised about the JF-17. Right now there are a lot of unknowns like the new AESA radar, IFR, IRST, multiple weapons racks, BVR missiles, composites, new engine, increased TWR?
Any country thinking of buying this plane would want to know what the future direction is, in order to evaluate its options. The current JF-17 squadron is a ground attack squadron attacking tribal areas with no air power to challenge it. That is not a realistic wartime scenario.
The JF-17 has come a long way and the PAF should be very proud of its accomplishments, but a lot more work has to be done and is being done. Moreover, it really depends on the country buying the plane. I am sure a country like Nigeria would not care about an AESA radar, where Egypt or Venezuela would, as the latter already has the Su-30.
Lastly, there are a lot of unknowns as a lot of these negotiations are secret and countries are tight-lipped about them. I guess only time will tell... Thanks!
Most of these integrations are still underway in ALL the new fighters aswell
EUROFIGHTER PENDING UPGRADES
In 2002, the MBDA Meteor was selected as the long range air-to-air missile armament of Eurofighter Typhoon.[89][90] Pending Meteor availability, Typhoon will be equipped with the Raytheon AMRAAM. The current in-service date for Meteor is predicted to be August 2012.[90]
In 2009, Eurofighter operators and manufacturers are considering upgrading the current fleet with the possibility of adding the MBDA Meteor missile and an Active Electronically Scanned Array radar.[48]
Eurojet is attempting to find funding to test a thrust vectoring nozzle (TVN) on a flight demonstrator.[91]
The RAF is working on fitting conformal fuel tanks (CFT) to free up limited underwing space for weapons.[92][N 2]
PGMs, ?
Stand-off missiles? Typhoon lacks them for the time to come.
Air to ground E/O,L ?
Litening 3 with ROVER III only on RAF Typhoons with austere AG package and not fully integrated anyway. Should be resolved with block 9.
Precision strike, ?Independent precision strike only against fixed targets at short ranges right now and only for RAF block 5 with austere AG package.
UAE Demands for Rafale Improvements are Revealing
From the current issue of DSI magazine, in an article called "Awaiting the UAE":
And about the UAE demand to have a more powerful RBE2 radar, could it answer to some expectations for the Air force?
The Air Force is interested in having a RBE2 with an active antenna. It is now established with the powerful AESA antenna which will equip our tranche 4 Rafale
They want, in addition to the AESA, to have new functionalities on their Rafale, such as GMTT / GMTI (detection and tracking of moving ground target), interlacing between air/air and air/ground modes, etc..
The Emirians want a viewfinder-HMD
Initial deliveries of the Rafale M were to the F1 ("France 1") standard. This meant that the aircraft was suitable for air-to-air combat, replacing the obsolescent F-8 Crusader as the Aviation Navale's carrier-based fighter, but not equipped or armed for air-to-ground operations.
Rafale, radars, fail.
Rafale, engines, unacceptable, as designed
Rafale air to air missiles, MICA IR marginal, radar homer, epic fail.
Air to ground, current E/OL obsolete, still awaiting Damocles.
Dumb bombs, has dropped them IN COMBAT.
CM, failed against US tests..
PGMs, epic fail also IN COMBAT.
Precision strike, testing, looks promising
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all this info just took me a minute to collect
instead of 
