I must admit for a long time I didn't believe that PAF would actually have the sense to realize that the J-10C is the best choice for the job, but I am glad that they came to this conclusion eventually. I was pretty worried that they were going to just make more JF-17B3 and hope that was enough which was a recipe for disaster. Somebody in PAF or PLAAF must have smacked them into reality and told them to get a real air superiority fighter and get it in big numbers. I was hoping for years that it would be J-10C and must say I was very surprised that they actually did the right thing. We can get 4 J-10C for every Rafale so PAF must take advantage of this. J-10C is a better plane than F-16 in every way but I think China has not really had the opportunity to demonstrate the actual capabilities of this plane, so now Pakistan is going to be China's platform to demonstrate what they are actually capable of vis a vis Taiwan and India. There are a lot of people out there especially in the west who deliberately underestimate and play down the quality of Chinese fighters for a number of reasons. Even a lot of Pakistanis are guilty of being unabashed Viper fanboys. Most of us on this forum have know for years that J-10C is a serious killer but outside of military forums like this, most Pakistanis and non-Chinese people probably have no idea that China has fighters that are equal to or better than what US keeps for themselves, they are in for a big surprise.
I would say what makes Pakistan's J-10C fleet particularly interesting is that although some other countries in the region like UAE, Qatar, Saudi, Egypt have very impressive fleet acquisitions, those planes will never be used in a manner that requires their full capabilities at the edge of their performance envelope. Countries that sell to the Gulf know the most that their military equipment will be used is to do some easy bombing runs in Yemen which is a completely one sided war against a country that has no air force. Selling to Pakistan is a completely different story, we must be the only country in the world right now that is on bad terms with US and is getting military equipment this advanced. Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine need military equipment that actually works and they are getting it, but they are also puppets of US. Pakistan is on the opposite side of US, yet we are getting the likes of J-10C which is practically the best that you can buy right now as a country that actually has to use these planes and fight a real enemy. US has not sold F-35 to any country that has had a major military conflict in last 10 years besides Israel after Turkey got kicked out, so practically speaking, if China is selling us J-10C they are expecting this plane to be used as a real fighter and not for some fake softball NATO photo interception.
Practically speaking, out of the major influential countries on bad terms with US excluding Russia and China, that have some kind of US sanctions, I would say that list includes Venezuela, Belarus, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, Pakistan is the only country on that list to be getting latest generation technology like 4.5 gen J-10C. Can you imagine if North Korea or Iran got something like this. People would be freaking out. The Pentagon is already spooked enough that Iran and North Korea have their own missiles, if they somehow get 4.5 gen non-US fighters like Pakistan, that would be completely unacceptable risk from US perspective. Turkey is similar story, if Pentagon knew Turkey was going to make their own drones and actually use them, they probably wouldn't have kicked Turkey out of F-35 program because at least they could control it. Now Pentagon has no control over Turkey and that has really spooked a lot of people in DC as it was viewed as a clever move to punish Turkey but then ultimately backfired in spectacular fashion and gave Turkey the last laugh as the top drone manufacturer. I think Pakistan was for US the last remaining major hostile country in the region that they could somewhat control through sanctions but now that domino too has also fallen. J-10C is not dangerous because of any advanced radar and missile capabilities that it has but because it gives a level of strategic autonomy and expanded operational discretion to PAF that did not exist with F-16. For New Delhi, basically it is that unlike F-16, J-10C can actually be used anywhere offensively so this definitely changes some calculations of South Block. The days of PAF keeping tight lid on F-16 use are over, sure Swift Retort was done during broad daylight, but with J-10C now PAF will really do things out in the open for everyone to see unlike before. There is no consequence from China of using J-10C against India so now PAF can openly retaliate for things that they could not have used F-16 for.
India will have to act carefully now. Would not be surprised if after all of India's belligerence over the past year, this is how China decided to punish India by playing the long game as Beijing always does, quietly but in a calculated way. Border incursions like Ladakh are small fish for China, they won't stoop to India's level to retaliate or respond at the border, China will retaliate like a real superpower. The real way for China to get back at India and unleash the fangs on New Delhi is to make PAF a 1st rate Air Force as good as PLAAF and arm Pakistan to the teeth so they can keep their eyes on the ball which is Taiwan. And PAF must have realized that any usefulness of the F-16 is diminished by having to constantly be paranoid about getting caught operating outside Pakistan or getting sanctioned for parts. F-16 for PAF was like a bad marriage, you only are married out of necessity until you can find something better and J-10C is that something. The real bombshell in New Delhi has nothing to do with J-10C's radar and missile capabilities but that India's endless narrative of F-16 not being allowed by US will be over now, those days are gone now and will completely irrelevant going forward. In my opinion this is even more important than J-10C itself and was the best reason to buy it. This development is the real bombshell news for India and US also, the concept that Pakistan now possesses a potent 4.5 gen air superiority fighter made by a non-western country that must be taken seriously and has no operational restrictions or sanctions about where and where it cannot be used.
There were other great reasons to buy J-10C such as price and the fact that you could buy 4 J-10C for every Rafale and also the fact that with Pakistan making use of Chinese radar and missile systems on top of J-10C, the integration between these 3 packages will be excellent. I think the only reason why US is not more concerned about a hostile and somewhat major country like Pakistan getting a non-western 4.5 gen J-10C vs if Iran, Turkey, NK got something like this is that US wants to believe that J-10C is primarily directed at India and not at US assets which is a probably a correct assessment and really shows the true color of US-India relations and Pentagon snakes not giving a f what happens to New Delhi if they decide to abandon them alone with the wolves in the middle of the night (Afghanistan). But it should also be noted that US could not have done much to stop it even if they wanted to, J-10C doesn't have any western components in it, which is also one of the best reasons to buy it. I think with J-10C it is easy to take for granted that it doesn't have western components but look around and see how lucky we are, this is practically the only 4.5 gen fighter in the world that is actually reliable and uses no western components. India has been struggling with US components in Tejas and Tejas is only 4th gen while Russian reliability issues are well documented. There is a common saying in Chinese military circles that the most reliable Russian fighters are the ones that PLAAF has. I think J-10C is really a testament to how far China has come, really the culmination of everything they have learned and put into a single package, and Pakistan is pretty lucky to be the only country getting access to essentially the best of what China has to offer. I think slowly but surely, the links between China and Pakistan are getting stronger with recent big ticket deals like CRRC HSR and HQ missile defence system, it will be the right side of history to be on as China becomes the dominant power going forward.