It is probably the need to blend in Russian tech with Nato tech and get behind with latest Western equipment rather than just because of weighing fighter capability of Su30 with MRCA contenders.
Hi Sapper, you are partly right, it's about getting different fighters, with different capabilities, for different roles. USAF for example don't has only F22s, they will get numbers of F35 to supplement it too, just like PAF now gets JF 17 to supplement the more capable F16s and possibly J10s in future.
But this example doesn't fit to JF 17, because although the avaionics and weapons will differ, it will be mainly the same fighter in the first to blocks. Block 3 could be pretty different with not only technical differences, but changes at the airframe too (that's what I read here often).
The problem is that while Chinese equipment may be good enough, it does not support off the shelf American and NATO weapons, which french avionics does, besides providing best insight into the future of Western Avionics and weapons. Do remember that Pakistan will be having large stocks of Harpoons, South African Python Variants, Brizillian Anti Radiation missiles and American Amraams and Targeting/Jamming Pods in future which cannot be used (off-the-shelf) with JF-17s if we stick to All-Chinese configurations. PAF is not saying we dislike Chinese tech and want to go French tech, rather that along with Chinese tech, we would also like to have western tech as well.
If "off the shelf" means that PAF can simply put these weapons on JF 17, only because the radar and avionics are French, you are mistaken. Take the Rafale for example, it is (AFAIK) since F2 standard wired to use weapons like US AMRAAM missiles, or Paveway bombs, but although these are common NATO weapons, they have to be integrated before one can use them. Dassault stated before that any foreign customers who wants to use AMRAAM on Rafale can do so, if they pay for reconfiguring the software and the weapon test that are needed. Recently there was an article about UAE and the Rafale that says, if UAE buys these fighters, they would want the integration of SLAM ER instead of Exocet missiles. So even completely French fighters with latest radar and avionics, can't simply use weapons from other origin that are not integrated.
So unless Harpoon for example wasn't integrated before for that radar and avionics, it can't be use it so easy.
If simply JF-17s were to get French AESA and same tech level RWR+IFF+ECM (which i am not saying they are), it will by definition go past the current Bl-52 configuration for F16 in terms of avionics (not TWR and Weapons Load since its smaller). So hypothetically its possible, but practically speaking its probably a waste of money for an aircraft intended for Work-Horse role and not air-superiority role.
Exactly, but such techs are planed only for JF 17 block 3 if I'm not wrong, but he was talking about the JF 17 with the French package that the second batch/block should get, that's why I asked.
Pakistan Airforce 
