What if India buy F-21: JF-17 vs F-16E

[Christina Chan]

They named it F-21 instead of F-16 because Indian planes crash a lot. If they keep the F-16 name, it will harm F-16 sales around the world.

 

[SABRE]

The only reason they named it F-21 is to make it sound superior to F-16; & inferior only to F-22 & F-35. It is a significant upgrade over Pakistani F-16s but does not go beyond the league of Rafale & Eurofighters. I think it will also significantly dilute layers of Pakistan's nuclear threshold. Regardless of significant upgrades in the JF-17 programme (i.e. JF-17 Block-III), we do need a Western air superiority jet. As I say; major air forces need both the punch & prestige factor to maintain a psychological edge over the enemy. It's going to take project Azam 10 to 15 years to mature. We should consider Eurofighter in the mean. Our mid-term composition should be:

1. Eurofighter
2. J-10C
3. JF-17
4. F-16

When project Azam matures it would be ready to retire F-16s. Though F-16s can easily last till 2050 we need American support to maintain them that long, which is never guaranteed. Turkey could have helped us but they seem to be running in the opposite direction to the Americans nowadays.

 

[Jungibaaz]

Pakistan single-handedly shot down chances of the F-21 on 27th of Feb.

And yes, pun very much intended.

 

[mingle]

F-21/F-16 Block 70 is much more advanced than our vipers; vastly different machines on the whole, and structural similarities are superficial.

Pakistan need something much better than JF-17 Thunder block III to counter these TBH, but we should not be alarmed because Indian bureaucracy is not up to the task. They are adept in screwing deals.

Legend we don't have too many options either EF or more F16 may be blk 70along with JF-17 blk 123

 

[baqai]

dont you think they first need to learn how to fly the existing aircrafts they have before wasting money on new ventures with new learning curve?

 

[waz]

Folks this has been discussed before several times.
They’re not buying US planes after the trade treatment Trump metted out. It’s going to be European or maybe Russian.
Please post on the relevant threads.
Closed.