Apparently the 3 x Z10 that were deployed to Pakistan have been returned
Feed back was not great and I don't think PA will be ordering
Think issues were overall handling and performance
Hopefully both party's could ensure feed back is digested and actioned to improve future collaboration
Looks like T-129 is now solid candidate for PA
Not necessary a disappointment because neither do the Chinese in general expect it'd win against other more established competitors out there, not to mention current iteration of Z-10 suffers the well-known "wimpy engines" issue. Z-10, above all else, is to solve the Chinese "have-not" issue when comes to dedicated attack helo, and considering what they slated for "plan B" - the Z-19 - should the Z-10 failed miserably, you know they're working on very limited resources to achieve what there is. What matter is the Pakistani's "user-report" and what the Chinese going to address them.
Close to 200 Z-10 are in service, do we expect a new variant, better than the current one in the near future?
By now they should accumulate enough user feedback and reports to work on a major upgrade, if they haven't already. As widely acknowledged, the key issue is the wimpy engines - once that was dealt with a more powerful model, we might finally see the fully decked-out version that the project initially envisioned. Not seeing the Chinese going to work out anything in the weight class of AH-64 or Mi-28 anytime soon, as their priority is to expand their rotary wing elements in all branches of service, if you don't count on the PLAN Marines that will see the most aggressive expansion yet seen in its history.
