To respond to Maggern, Typhoon is not using AESA yet.
WS-10As have been put on prototypes we've seen. We've also seen a complete squadron without any engines at all but no squadron with a full set of WS-10A. The AL-31Fs are indeed for the J-10, but if they can master an AL-31 replacement, there is no reason not to stick it on the J-10.
As I said, FWS-10 are for J-11Bs and they were grounded at beginning of 2009, but the issues got fixed and now they are flying from the recent photos. If the Russians offer a better variant of AL-31FN for J-10 with greater thrust level, it will beat out FWS-10A. Remember, FWS-10A is a different engine and still require time to mature, so they are going with both engines. J-10 is not in a situation like J-11B where it'd be grounded if Taihang is not available.
PLAN has been studying carrier design since long before 1985 when they purchased the HMAS Melbourne to strip her flight deck. It has been 30 years and the best they can do is copy Varyag inch by inch. The Kuznetsov design was a disaster from day one, copying it will only end with more trouble. Converting an engineering school into a land based ship model is beyond the naivety of avarice. I'm just waiting for the day they try to land a Flanker on it to collapse the roof.
As I side, it's used to train the crew for operation on Varyag. It's not an engineering school, there are a lot of PLAN naval equipment test/training facilities in Wuhan. This happens to be one of them. The security there is also not that tight, which means they are not hiding it. Once they get their first domestic carrier in operation, they'd have to modify it to resemble that.
[qimg]http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/images/chinasubsound.jpg[/qimg]
Let me dust off my old Jane's article...
"The Han-class SSNs are quite noisy and vulnerable to detection by ASW capabilities... Submariners have reported when the Han pings, it disorients whales and may cause them to beach. " Jane's Defence Weekly, 13 August 1997 p.14.
Not quite as I remembered but it is safe to say, the Han was a disaster.
Shang was detected off the territorial waters of Japan and ended up causing so much embarrassment for the Chinois they added an apology.
A couple of things, that revealed ONI report had a bunch of mistakes (pretty embarrassing for USN if you ask me). They seemed to have recycled noise levels from a report in the 90s. Chinese subs are noisy, but there is not much help they can get from the Europeans. Shang was certainly not available in service in 2004, so that Japan article would have to be a different submarine. Han had it's share of reactor problems, but a lot of things are fixed now. It's just noisy, no longer dangerous.
Well my prime example is Pakistan. PAF wants French radar and missiles for a reason, because they are better than Chinese. China must import engines for a reason, because they can't make them. Pak Army wanted Ukrainian engines, French auto transmission and thermal sights in MBT-2000 for a reason. Because Europe's are better. Why else would you pay more money when your dear ally is supposed to be equal to the West?
Al-Khalid decisions were made a while ago, Chinese stuff have improved a lot since. As seen recently in Peru, China's export stuff can beat out European/Russian options. As for JF-17, nothing has been decided. I certainly don't blame PAF for looking out for options.
As for Burma, I don't know the details but they have been buying Chinese equipment outright for a long time, it is a bit of a coup for them to pick Russia when China has a good product in J-10. The export prospects of the current model aren't looking too good unless Pakistan gets it and sticks more EU avionics in it.
J-10 wasn't offered. JF-17 was. Even for Pakistan, J-10's export version would not be available until after J-10B's IOC into PLAAF.
Yeah, right... KJ-2000 is a failed attempt to buy an Israeli AWACs set, KJ-200 is in a million pieces, Type 052C is "supposed" to be an attempt at a high power X-band phased array. None of that is an example of an AESA.
KJ-2000 has been in service for a while and reached FOC a while ago. KJ-200 had problems with the platform, which are now solved. Y-8F600 is now in full production mode at Shaanxi AC. 052C is using an AESA MFR like Sampson.
The thing people don't know is that China's fighter AESA radar program are actually pretty far ahead, but they don't release it to international world, so nobody really knows that they are almost ready.
Reason I'm here is to dig through the propoganda for evidence of China's rise. I know they are rising, but not as fast as everyone thinks.
It looks like you need to be a little more humble first. There are certain things countering China's rise, but not what you state.
