China's F-16

Now this is interesting. For those who can read Chinese, read the first two characters of the red banner in the background of the first image.


A cut on the right side.

Hmmm ... ??? That's really strange.

Even as it looks like a F-16 it looks strange: the EJ-seat is different, the HUD + front panel is completely different, the tanks looks like from a Q-5/J-6 and several anteannas are strange too !

MAybe it is an old ... very old airframe of an early model (maybe sold to scrap) or a mock-up, a model ... I don't know.

Deino

note the crack on the right side of the canopy. My bet would be a recovered Aircraft perhaps Pakistani, South Korean, Thai, ROC, even American though they might also have procured a used one from some other party the odd points might be some kind of repairs to get it to flight or at least comparison. In the Cold war the US government did that kind of thing all the time to Learn about Russian Aircraft. the same could be taking place here.

If its in China. Its a good chance they smuggled parts of F 16 from various nations over a number of years then constructed their own.

Baibar of Jalat said:

If its in China. Its a good chance they smuggled parts of F 16 from various nations over a number of years then constructed their own.

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No. CAC has a F-16A since 1987. Three Brazilian Air Force officers saw it when they tested the F-7M. It was probably a paquistani aircraft.

Pepe

Back in the eighties, the Reagan administration wanted to sell F-16s to China. China could not afford them, as they were dirt poor at that time. The F-16 was being built in such numbers that their flyaway costs was like 8 million in eighties dollar, probably 15 to 20 million for contract price.

Having said that, I think this is not CAC. It looks more like some place in Taiwan. Probably AIDC since it reminds me of the background seen in some IDF pictures. The Chinese script in one picture looks done in Traditional, rather than Simplified.

It is a 1:1 model of F-16, the picture was taken in Hefei China.

optionsss said:

It is a 1:1 model of F-16, the picture was taken in Hefei China.

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Yes, the first two letter of the script can read Hefei (合肥), the others are too unclear.

Note: the aircraft cannot stand on its own, it needs some support. It has a scratch on the right side under the cockpit.

could be venezuela AF F-16?US launched arm embargo,including spare part for 12 venezuela F-16A,hugo chavez decided to procure russian SU-30MKK,and one of them end up in China.

After closer study, its meticulously made fake.

A real fighter would have a real radome. The real radome for the F-16 would have distinct static strip lines like this:





The radome and the lines look like they were just painted on. And they shouldn't reflect.



Also the paint scheme is not entirely correct. There is supposedly a certain pattern in the camouflage:



Definitely not Pakistani, since their F-16s have a unique paint pattern.



Before delivery.



Not Venenzuelan, which has this pattern.