Armchair
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2014
- Messages
- 3,234
- Reaction score
- 8
- Country
- Location
Only up to the the level of sensors, avionics and type of munitions they can carry.
They don't have the same loiter time of the Block-52+
They don't have the same engine nor engine-power as the Block-52+
They don't have the same RCS
They don't have the same range nor combat radius of the Block-52+
They can't carry CFT like the Block-52+
They can't carry as much weapons or fuel as the Block-52+
JF-17 Block-III on the level of weapons systems, avionics, sensors, FCS and EW-suite, has been re-designed internally to take on the best of the best of the adversary. The level of re-construction required to bring the earlier Blocks to the Block-III level would be illogically cost and time prohibitive.
But that is not to say that can't be upgraded to a near capability level to the Block-III on many aspects.
However, the advantage of the older block F-16s is that they have better wing loading as their airframes are considerably lighter. The latter block F-16s are flying bricks in comparison.
This is not true with the JF-17 blocks. Block 3 is a superior hardware in every possible way.