Fair enough ! However keep in mind that world will not be stagnant till JF17 matures , it would have advanced to whole different level.
Fully agreed, but in the light fighter category, there won't be much players.
Taimi,
It is you who asked me to post official sources and not figures from sino defence. I did put forward a published report from a chinese mouth piece and now you are pointing me to a post from Shamim sir and asking me to believe that J10 is being negotiated for 25 million. Chalo, i will trust you and Shamim sir on the cost of J10.
I did not put a ? on your source, rather pshamim posts gives further credence to your source for the 40Mln figure. You came up with the 40Mln figure, so did Shamim Sb said, thus your figure is closer to the reality. Its Pakistan who is asking for a lower price compared to what the Chines are asking. Why is China asking for 40Mln while we have a Chinese pilot saying 28Mln cost for CAF, well it seems they only know, to me there was one logic which i said, there is nothing else or may be they want to earn bucks big time.
However i cant comprehend the reason why Chinese would go on two build and sell two types of planes for negligible cost difference with exactly the same avionics...and further why would PLAF/PAF opt for J10 or why would PLAF/PAF opt for JF17 if the difference are comparatively neglible? This is precisely what i am failing to understand , however as you said time will tell. So i rest my case.
See, J-10 was an official program of China, PLAAF was the main force behind it who needed a newer, more modern platform, it had official govt funding and was started way back before JF-17, while JF-17 was a joint venture between Pakistan and Chinese Aircraft manufacturer who used its own funds, not from the govt of China. Thus in this way both programs are different. JF-17 was designed for export customers looking at the lower end, for those who want light fighter aircraft and wanna replace ts older light fighters. If an air force wanna replace a Mig-21/F-7 with something light for about 20Mln, why would it go for a much expensive/heavier platform in the shape of J-10 or Mig-29 ??
And manufacturing cost is not the only thing, you need to see maintenance costs, operational costs during the life span of the aircraft. J-10 with bigger engine will eat more fuel, more expensive spare parts, expensive replacement engine etc etc, while for a light fighter aircraft, less fuel consumption, less expensive spare parts, thus in long run overall less costs. Hope you get the point.
I will take your word for 28 or 25 million.
28Mln is th figure by the CAF guy for the fully equipped Chinese version of J-10, while 25 Mln is being asked by PAF and what would be the configuration be, no one knows. may be its asking 25Mln with reduced things which it want to add from some other sources.
with regards to bold part -- why would chinese do that ? Chinese are known for their cheap products ...and if they are pointing out to quality with a cheap price-- then there is a saying in the world "you get what you paid for"...that is not going to change anytime soon....I believe Chinese instead is advertising J10 as high tech fighter visa as compared to JF17 hence the cost difference... but at 28 million a pop for J10 that argument doesnt hold weight.
Sorry for the dig !
Both are high tech aircrafts, difference is in their sizes, thus performance would differ. J-10 can carry more payload at longer ranges, with a big nose carrying a more powerful radar, even though rest of the avionics may be same for both platforms, while JF-17 is light, which can go to short distances with lesser payload.
So your major difference is here, payload, range & radar performance, which can be vital for an airforce as per its requirements. For those where these 3 major indicators doesn't matter, they will go for a smaller platform.
And as said, either China wants big bucks or wanna send some message to the world, i don't see any other logical reason for such high price for this fighter.
