China Flanker Thread II

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Deino

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Registered Member
The Chinese have indicated their intention from the very beginning that they wanted flankers to be 100% indigenous. However, we don't know the term of the contract, but one thing is certain that is the Russians did not believe the Chinese are capable of producing an indigenous flanker and they ignored the chinese intention until the J11b was revealed.

From what I had read(western, Russia, and Chinese), the information said nothing about the content of the contract. They only specifically pointed out that the Chinese had successfully produced up to 70% of the plane indigenously, and Russia denied China the license to produce avionics and engine. Chinese sources have indicated that Russia had tentatively agreed to license the production of AL31, but the Chinese turned down the offer in favor of WS10. Of course this is a big mistake, and later Russia retracked its offer.

Deino

Your debate with Kiwi is interesting, but Kiwi(flogger or Mig23) was not known to be a very good debater. Just ask Crobato or Plawolf.

Thanks for Your comments ! ... and kind words !

YES - and to be honest - such id...ts simply drive me crazy with their alway repeating the same phrases.
However I have to admit I've learned a lot - and was even wrong in some points - :eek: , but since some guys like crobato, Plawolf and tphuang and others are really "authorities" on that topic I will try again to get the information I'm looking for. :D

Very intersting, mysterious for example is, ... :

- that even if there's a lot of noise in the open media, it seems that China is still receiving parts for their Flankers from Russia (which indicated at least for the moment not a 100% Chinese Flanker),
- that Russia in return gets the payment as contracted (therfore no official complains or even call for a court),
- that the only one who really lost financially was most likely the Russian manufactor of the replaced avionics + Lylka/Saturn
- the price of such a "complete kit" ??
- the contracted % of Russian parts / Chinese parts of each block.
- the point if evcer of from what aircraft on a complete 100% Chinese license was planned (since some sources say at least 60% of Russian parts were emanded for the whole production of 200 ac)

.... alltogether that most of the real terms of the contract will remain secret (hopefully not too long !)

Anyway, a more than interesting topic.

Cheers, Deino
 

montyp165

Junior Member
If the AL-31 had be licenced-produced that would have affected development of domestic engines (as it would be less pressing to develop), so forcing greater investment in engine development may have been a necessary evil for the long term.

The Russian supplied parts I see would be for the J-11/A, rather than the J-11B.
 

vesicles

Colonel
If the AL-31 had be licenced-produced that would have affected development of domestic engines (as it would be less pressing to develop), so forcing greater investment in engine development may have been a necessary evil for the long term.

I actually think being able to license-produce the engine would be a good thing. One should not doubt the motivation of Chinese defense industry to develop indigenous products, no matter what. China was in the process of developing indigenous fighters way before they started buying and license-producing Su-27s. License-producing Su-27s/J-11s did not stop them from developing their own J-10 and J-XX. On the other hand, gaining better understanding of the technologies that these systems use surely helped Chinese big time. So using the same logic, if China is able to license-produce AL-31 for a little while, they might be able to shorten the development stage of WS10 a bit and avoid some of the pitfalls that they have faced with WS10.
 

KYli

Brigadier
If the information from Chinese sources is correct, WS10's problems and shortcomings are not caused by design flaws. Most of the pitfalls seemed to be caused by poor manufacturing procedures and quality control. Therefore, if China is able to license-produce AL-31, it would have resolved many of its shortcomings sooner and wouldn't waste time over who is at fault(design or manufacturing).
 

montyp165

Junior Member
If the information from Chinese sources is correct, WS10's problems and shortcomings are not caused by design flaws. Most of the pitfalls seemed to be caused by poor manufacturing procedures and quality control. Therefore, if China is able to license-produce AL-31, it would have resolved many of its shortcomings sooner and wouldn't waste time over who is at fault(design or manufacturing).

Things like that can be resolved by getting quality control specialists and manufacturing experts to help with production systems, so adding a new production line in itself isn't the necessary element.
 

ZTZ99

Banned Idiot
Thanks for Your comments ! ... and kind words !

YES - and to be honest - such id...ts simply drive me crazy with their alway repeating the same phrases.
However I have to admit I've learned a lot - and was even wrong in some points - :eek: , but since some guys like crobato, Plawolf and tphuang and others are really "authorities" on that topic I will try again to get the information I'm looking for. :D

Very intersting, mysterious for example is, ... :

- that even if there's a lot of noise in the open media, it seems that China is still receiving parts for their Flankers from Russia (which indicated at least for the moment not a 100% Chinese Flanker),
- that Russia in return gets the payment as contracted (therfore no official complains or even call for a court),
- that the only one who really lost financially was most likely the Russian manufactor of the replaced avionics + Lylka/Saturn
- the price of such a "complete kit" ??
- the contracted % of Russian parts / Chinese parts of each block.
- the point if evcer of from what aircraft on a complete 100% Chinese license was planned (since some sources say at least 60% of Russian parts were emanded for the whole production of 200 ac)

.... alltogether that most of the real terms of the contract will remain secret (hopefully not too long !)

Anyway, a more than interesting topic.

Cheers, Deino

Nobody is an authority on this topic, if by this topic you mean the Su-27 contract between Russia and China. All the points you mentioned above are gleaned from the internet and/or represent personal speculation, and do not represent established facts, including whether or not China is still receiving parts, whether or not China paid separately for the kits, or whether or not China paid $2 billion for the entire technology transfer of the Su-27 minus avionics and engine. If this were actually true then Russia very clearly had absolutely no case at all from the very beginning and would not be making this kind of noise. But clearly they are, so something(s) about the details of the contract is/are not known to anyone in the public domain.
 

latenlazy

Brigadier
If the information from Chinese sources is correct, WS10's problems and shortcomings are not caused by design flaws. Most of the pitfalls seemed to be caused by poor manufacturing procedures and quality control. Therefore, if China is able to license-produce AL-31, it would have resolved many of its shortcomings sooner and wouldn't waste time over who is at fault(design or manufacturing).

There's no guarantee that if the Chinese did get the license for the AL-31 they would be able to successfully produce it. Manufacturing and quality control problems have a lot more to do with the facilities and small scale management of products, which are much harder to control for, and which you simply can't just buy.
 

Lion

Senior Member
The Chinese have indicated their intention from the very beginning that they wanted flankers to be 100% indigenous. However, we don't know the term of the contract, but one thing is certain that is the Russians did not believe the Chinese are capable of producing an indigenous flanker and they ignored the chinese intention until the J11b was revealed.

From what I had read(western, Russia, and Chinese), the information said nothing about the content of the contract. They only specifically pointed out that the Chinese had successfully produced up to 70% of the plane indigenously, and Russia denied China the license to produce avionics and engine. Chinese sources have indicated that Russia had tentatively agreed to license the production of AL31, but the Chinese turned down the offer in favor of WS10. Of course this is a big mistake, and later Russia retracked its offer.

Deino

Your debate with Kiwi is interesting, but Kiwi(flogger or Mig23) was not known to be a very good debater. Just ask Crobato or Plawolf.

Correct. China long shown intention and did not hide abt its intend to build a 100% domestic J-11b. It was reveal in 2004 Zuhai airshow. And the Russia side did not warn or say anything abt breach of contract or anything. All their reply was skeptical of China achieveing that before 2010.

Now they keep insisting China breach of contract and steal their design. All this show sign of sore loser only.
 

crobato

Colonel
VIP Professional
O.k. ... then I have to admit, that I was wrong ! :(

Is there any information available about the price of such a "complete kit" ?? and even more the % of Russian parts / Chinese parts of each block, which - and even here are most information are contradicting - from which aircraft a complete 100% Chinese license was planned (of if ever so), since some sources say at least 60% of Russian parts were emanded for the whole production of 200 ac.

Thanks in advance for Your help,
Deino

To begin with, we need to clarify how the Sukhoi organization works. Its not like Boeing or Lockheed.

Sukhoi, and so is MiG, are design bureaus. This means they're a company whose main product is brain work. If you're familiar with Silicon Valley, many companies are this way. IP companies with no manufacturing.

Within Sukhoi's orbit are a number of large satellite companies that actually do the manufacture of their products. The big three is NAPO, KnAAPO and Irkut. These companies are independent from Sukhoi; independent and yes, with self serving goals for themselves too. These firms even compete with each other on the market. Sukhoi licenses the designs for them to make:

NAPO does the Su-34 type

KnAAPO does the Su-27 single seaters along with variants thereof, such as Su-35, and Su-33 carrier jets.

Irkut does the Su-27 double seaters along with variants thereof, aka Su-30MKI. Note how NAPO, KnAAPO and Irkut are forking off their own Flanker variants, to the point that these variants compete against each other, Irkut's Su-30MK vs. KnAAPO's Su-35. KnAAPO has gone to the point of hatching their own double seaters - Su-30MKK and the double seater Su-35.

So, Shenyang AC licenses the design from Sukhoi itself, but to get the single seater kits, they have to have a separate deal with KnAAPO. And to get the double seater kits, they have to make another deal with Irkut.

For the parts themselves, China has to deal with other manufacturers separately, Salyut and Saturn for engines, NIIP for the radar and so on.

Note: if China licenses the Su-27 design, it does not mean they have licensed the radar, the engines, the opto-mechanical sight and so on and on. So China has to purchase these separately on separate contracts until China can fill in the blanks with domestic IP equivalents.

If this is a license, China pays Sukhoi a fee for every J-11B made. Even if the plane is 100% Chinese parts. That's not the problem. The problem is that the Russians think they make better money selling their own home grown and made variety. I believe Sukhoi may get a commission cut from the Russian parts contractors themselves from Chinese deals related to the J-11. Nothing bad about that. That's just business. So if China, lets say, buy engines from Salyut for the J-11, Sukhoi gets a cut. Of course, if China buys engines from Salyut for the J-10, Sukhoi doesn't. That's why the engine contracts are always separate, specific to the plane, and may not have the same unit price.

The Russians also do not understand the global IP business, coming from their Communist background. That's why they went around trying to sue countries for the AK-47 "patents". Which as you know, didn't hold. When their defense industries were at the brink and desperate for money, you can understand why they would patent troll.

The Chinese side is this: they believed that the J-11 deal is like the Harbin Z-8 deal, which they always hold as the model for licenses. They will take the basic design and modify for their own use, substituting domestic parts if needed and use foreign parts if necessary. The licensor gets a cut for every unit made. The Chinese have been mentioning the Z-8 model for a long time.
 

ZTZ99

Banned Idiot
To begin with, we need to clarify how the Sukhoi organization works. Its not like Boeing or Lockheed.

Sukhoi, and so is MiG, are design bureaus. This means they're a company whose main product is brain work. If you're familiar with Silicon Valley, many companies are this way. IP companies with no manufacturing.

Within Sukhoi's orbit are a number of large satellite companies that actually do the manufacture of their products. The big three is NAPO, KnAAPO and Irkut. These companies are independent from Sukhoi; independent and yes, with self serving goals for themselves too. These firms even compete with each other on the market. Sukhoi licenses the designs for them to make:

NAPO does the Su-34 type

KnAAPO does the Su-27 single seaters along with variants thereof, such as Su-35, and Su-33 carrier jets.

Irkut does the Su-27 double seaters along with variants thereof, aka Su-30MKI. Note how NAPO, KnAAPO and Irkut are forking off their own Flanker variants, to the point that these variants compete against each other, Irkut's Su-30MK vs. KnAAPO's Su-35. KnAAPO has gone to the point of hatching their own double seaters - Su-30MKK and the double seater Su-35.

So, Shenyang AC licenses the design from Sukhoi itself, but to get the single seater kits, they have to have a separate deal with KnAAPO. And to get the double seater kits, they have to make another deal with Irkut.

For the parts themselves, China has to deal with other manufacturers separately, Salyut and Saturn for engines, NIIP for the radar and so on.

Note: if China licenses the Su-27 design, it does not mean they have licensed the radar, the engines, the opto-mechanical sight and so on and on. So China has to purchase these separately on separate contracts until China can fill in the blanks with domestic IP equivalents.

If this is a license, China pays Sukhoi a fee for every J-11B made. Even if the plane is 100% Chinese parts. That's not the problem. The problem is that the Russians think they make better money selling their own home grown and made variety. I believe Sukhoi may get a commission cut from the Russian parts contractors themselves from Chinese deals related to the J-11. Nothing bad about that. That's just business. So if China, lets say, buy engines from Salyut for the J-11, Sukhoi gets a cut. Of course, if China buys engines from Salyut for the J-10, Sukhoi doesn't. That's why the engine contracts are always separate, specific to the plane, and may not have the same unit price.

The Russians also do not understand the global IP business, coming from their Communist background. That's why they went around trying to sue countries for the AK-47 "patents". Which as you know, didn't hold. When their defense industries were at the brink and desperate for money, you can understand why they would patent troll.

The Chinese side is this: they believed that the J-11 deal is like the Harbin Z-8 deal, which they always hold as the model for licenses. They will take the basic design and modify for their own use, substituting domestic parts if needed and use foreign parts if necessary. The licensor gets a cut for every unit made. The Chinese have been mentioning the Z-8 model for a long time.

Where is the evidence that Russia is getting any kind of cut on the J-11B production, or that the license cost included a 100% technology transfer from Sukhoi, or that the Chinese military modeled the J-11 deal to be like the Z-8 deal?
 
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