Chinese JF-17 is a Cheap Competition For The F-16
Well for one I dont remember anyone claiming that the production would be 25 a/c from the get go it was always as i remember "enhanced" and increased to 25 a/c per year.
-Day time interceptor ( JF-17 has day/night capability AFAIK)
-F-16 I best in the F-16 family ( I thought it was the F-16 E/F block 60 and now the upcoming F-16V's)
-While the writer basically mentions most of the advantages that med/heavy class holds over the light class (range,payload etc) but does not mention the advantages of light over med/heavy (ease of maintenance, turn around times etc)
-However the most interesting thing is from radar,avionics to EW suite the writer says it in one go every thing is superior of the F-16 I however check out the EW capabilities of JFT
-Last point of second hand F-16's being cheaper is quite surprising for me since I never found an F-16 of same capabilities/ technology wise (F-16 Block 40 or higher) in the price tag that is mentioned by the author (25 million per piece)
-Well the author passes his judgement on the behalf of Chinese touting it as a "failed design". Ironically CAC developed a whole new PT-06, tests its newest weapons (anti ship,LS-6 and SD-10 series) tests its homemade engine (WS-13) on it after according to the author the JFT is considered by them as a "failed design"..
-The MOU of the project was signed in 1995 (our author friend also needs help with counting I guess)
-Even if the author considers the Grumman project of Sabre II (1989-1991) it still counts up to 17-18 years (not 20 even then) till PAF recieved the SBP in 2006-7.
-First off the Mig-33 jargon has been discussed in grave detail...However the output by the design is the vital factor not the base of the design itself.eg the cancelled LAVI and now we have a similar design in J-10 which has whipped the floor with the J-11's,SU-30's.At the end of the day its about how capable the JF-17 is not how is it based on other designs.In a war your opponent wont ask you
"HEY!!! your jet is based on a cancelled project so why dont you get locked,get shot and go to the heavens "
lastly the specs used are of old prototype mostly used by the writers that are critical of JF-17
eg
-3.6 tonnes (revealed now to be around 3.8-4.0 tonnes)
-2000 Km/h (1.6 Mach) however we know its 1.8 Mach
-Wrong I dont know of any official of PLAAF explicitly saying that "WE DONT WANT JF-17"
-PAF has 2 squadrons in service as of today and the third one is in near completion