Let me compare these four aircraft: F16b50 / 52, F16e / F, J10b / C and Rafale

[MH.Yang]

The world's active fighters are roughly divided into four types by engine: single middle push, single large push, double middle push and double large push.
single middle push includes F/A50, JAS39,JF17, LCA and mirage2000;
single large push has F16 and J10;
double middle push has Rafale, EF2000, MiG29/35 and F/ A18.
double large push has F15 and Su27/30.
Because of the large gap, I do not compare LCA and mirage2000.
I will only compare F16b50 / 52, F16e / F, J10b / C, JF17b2, Su30MKI and Rafale.




1, F16b50/52

Why are all countries studying single middle push and double middle push instead of single big push except China's J-10?
Because the F16 has brought the performance of single big push fighter to the extreme.

The aerodynamic design of F16 is the most balanced aerodynamic design so far. It highlights the mobility in subsonic and transonic segments, taking into account the low altitude mobility and supersonic performance.
The maximum flight speed of F16 is 2M, and the horizontal growth rate before 1.5M is also good.
However, the F16 has some poor high-altitude performance, especially climbing.
F16 has high lift coefficient, low wing load and high thrust weight ratio, which makes F16 very stable.
F16 low altitude and low speed maneuverability is also OK.
the subsystem of F16 is reliable, including engine, radar and cockpit (perfect bubble cockpit, giving the driver excellent cockpit vision).
F16 is also cheap, strong and durable. The service life of F16 is 6000 hours, and the service life of some F16 is more than 10000 hours
F16 also experienced a lot of actual combat. For example, from 1985 to 1989, Pakistan's F16 shot down 10 Soviet fighters in the border area, including 4 Su22, 2 an26, 1 an24, 1 Su2 and 2 MIG23.

F16b50 / 52 is a very important upgrade. It is equipped with 130kN high thrust engine (f110-ge-129 or f-100-pw-229), which enables F16 to increase the empty weight to 9 tons when ensuring the thrust weight ratio.
Conformal oil tank is added at the back of f16b50 / 52, which increases the internal oil volume by 1.5 times.
F16b50 / 52 can use harpoon anti-ship missile.
However, the f16b50 / 52 radar has not been replaced, not electric scanning.

Comments: low altitude mobility S, transonic mobility S, radar A, thrust weight ratio S, multipurpose S, range S, air combat weapon S, supersonic performance A, comprehensive performance A++.

 

[MH.Yang]

2, J10B/C



Is the J-10 B/C a better aircraft than the F16B50/52?
No!
In addition to the three advantages of electric scanning radar, PL15 and canard wing instantaneous disk, its disk stability, thrust weight ratio, range, multi-purpose and mounting capacity are not as good as F16b50/ 52;
All fighter planes designed in early China have long fuselages, such as J8, J10A and JH7. The reason is the lack of good engines and it is required to intercept at high speed. So J10A uses adjustable air inlet and long fuselage for high altitude and high speed.
Later, with the change of combat environment and the arrival of J11B, the combat mission of J10 changed and no longer required high-speed performance. Therefore, J10B/C adopts DSI air inlet, which has changed from interceptor fighter to air superiority fighter, but the maximum speed is also reduced.
The empty weight of J10B/C is reduced to 8840kg, the thrust of WS10 is 138KN, and the thrust weight ratio is very good.
DSI inlet can improve angle of attack flight, and has lighter structure, lower drag and smaller radar cross section. It improves the flight capability and quality of J10B/C during subsonic and high angle of attack maneuvers, and strengthens the subsonic combat performance.
However, there are still many obstacles to the versatility of J10B/C. For example, its external rack, because PL12/PL15 is too long, J10B/C's belly four rack cannot carry medium-range ammunition.
As a result, J10B/C can only hang 4 medium range bombs and 2 short-range bombs when carrying 3 auxiliary oil tanks. Moreover, if so many are mounted, the voyage of J10B/C will be bad.
To make matters worse, J10B/C does not have conformal tank, so auxiliary fuel tank is required.
J10B/C anti radar warfare uses YJ91, which is a supersonic missile, so it is somewhat large. Radar defense is often weak and there is no need to use supersonic missiles, I think it is a design defect.
J10B/C has aerodynamic performance, static instability design, digital telex control system, friend or foe identification system, electronic jamming system, ground precision guidance and strike system, DSI air inlet, composite material, photoelectric probe, active electric scanning radar, high thrust engine, in-flight integrated electronic countermeasure system, etc. it is a standard 4.5G fighter.

Comments: low altitude mobility A, transonic mobility S, radar S, thrust weight ratio S, multipurpose A-, range S+, air combat weapon S, supersonic performance A, comprehensive performance A++

 

[dbc]

The maximum flight speed of F16 is 2M, and the horizontal growth rate before 1.5M is also good.
However, the F16 has some poor high-altitude performance, especially climbing.

Only the slick US Navy F16 N hit Mach 2 effortlessly, it could super cruise without employing after burners as well. The climb rate of the F16 is comparable to the Eagle, only three fighters have ever taken off from Singapore and zoom climbed to angels 50 without making a single turn while remaining in Singapore airspace the F15, F16 and the F22.

 

[MH.Yang]

Only the slick US Navy F16 N hit Mach 2 effortlessly, it could super cruise without employing after burners as well. The climb rate of the F16 is comparable to the Eagle, only three fighters have ever taken off from Singapore and zoom climbed to angels 50 without making a single turn while remaining in Singapore airspace the F15, F16 and the F22.

I mean that the climbing height of F16 is not very good, it is 18000m. This is only the normal level of 4G fighter. If I give it a S-class, how to deal with MIG 31 and EF 2000?

 

[dbc]

I mean that the climbing height of F16 is not very good, it is 18000m. This is only the normal level of 4G fighter. If I give it a S-class, how to deal with MIG 31 and EF 2000?

you mean ceiling? Yes but that isn't its mission in the USAF hi/lo mix. The F15 was designed to sit on the edge of space and achieve air supremacy. The F-16 was initially designed to excel at close air combat around the EM theory postulated by Boyd. Even today it's considered along with the Mig-29 to be the gold standard in within visual range air combat.

 

[niaz]

Unless there is a substantial generation gap; such as a fighter with BVR vs one without BVR capability or a fighter with the stealth technology vs another without it; it is difficult to be certain which fighter will come out on top in actual one to one fight; despite the performance superiority on paper.

This is primarily because of the synergy between the pilot and his aircraft. The outcome depends upon the performance of pilot/fighter team vs the adversary where minor advantage such as better training, being at an advantageous position when the combat starts etc., would determine the outcome. For example, on paper Hunter was a superior aircraft to an F-86, but the late MM Alam managed to shoot down 5 Hunters in about a minute or so.

 

[MH.Yang]

The technology upgrade of F16eE/ F is unprecedented.
It adds two detachable conformal tanks, which add 1300kg of fuel and 450kg of aircraft weight, but does not reduce its subsonic flight performance.

It adds a forward-looking infrared aiming module, and its radar is replaced with APG80, and tactical situation display and large multi-functional display are installed, it greatly improves the pilot's perception of tactical situation.
F16E/F is equipped with digital terrain lifting database, which enables the aircraft to realize terrain tracking flight without radar signal transmission, and greatly reduces the risk of collision with the ground.
For the F16 prototype, the max takeoff-weight of F16E/F increased by 50% to 22.7t, its engine thrust increased by 35% to 147KN, and the thrust weight ratio did not decrease much.

Comments: low altitude mobility S, transonic mobility S, radar S+, thrust weight ratio S, multipurpose S+, range S, air combat weapon S, supersonic performance A, comprehensive performance S.

 

[MH.Yang]

Rafale
Rafale uses delta wing and close coupled canard wing.
Rafale does not adopt the common belly air inlet mode, but adopts the belly air inlet on both sides. This can not only maintain the advantages of belly intake at high angle of attack and large deflection angle, but also reduce the aircraft height.
Rafale reduces the nose size. Rafale uses RBE2 passive phased array radar with a diameter of only 535mm. As the nose reduces, the fuselage is also easy to reduce. but the performance of subsequent radar is bound to be limited due to the nose size.
Rafale also adopts a small side strip wing, and reduces the distance between the canard wing and the main wing, and is equipped with short-range coupling and large delta wing, which makes the lift coefficient, low altitude mobility and high angle of attack mobility of the Rafale very good. So Rafale landing speed is only 213km/h.
Rafale is a compact aircraft, so it does not need to waste too much weight on structural reinforcement, so the empty weight of Rafale is also very good, so it can have more load. Rafale can carry more than 9 tons of ammunition, which is stronger than all medium-sized aircrafts of the same level.
Small radar is the biggest problem of Rafale. Because the Rafale was designed in 1980s, the medium range projectile hit rate was very low at that time. Since it's not possible hit, Rafale doesn't care to the radar detection distance. However, in 2020s, this is a serious problem.
Meteor missile is a fast and highly maneuverable over the horizon air-to-air missile. Compared with the PL15, the meteor missile uses a ramjet with a large power range, but it will decelerate sharply after exceeding the power range, and the terminal maneuver is bad. But the meteor missile has a better midcourse speed than the PL15.
The design idea of Rafale is high-speed intervention and air battle advantage. But the French engine is not good, so Rafales can't cruise at supersonic speed. Rafales's low altitude and low speed performance, instantaneous disk, transonic mobility and supersonic drag control are all very good.

Comments: low altitude mobility S+, transonic mobility S+, radar A-, thrust weight ratio S, multipurpose S+, range S, air combat weapon S, supersonic performance S, comprehensive performance A++.

 

[Deino]

Wrong section, this is not directly relevant to the PAF and at best a general comparison of dubious quality.