Message posted by Magoo on January 13, 2003 at 20:42:32 PST:
The Lavi is based largely upon the cancelled 'Lavi' fighter of the late 1980's, which in turn used alot of F-16 technology. I think Israel would have only been 'allowed' to export some of the older stuff to China, and not, for example, the PW1120 engines and digital flight controls which were cutting edge at the time. The J/F-10 uses Russian engines similar to those in the MiG-29 I believe, which are at least a generation and a half behind the PW1120. Remember, the US 'prevented' Israel from exporting AEW&C aircraft technology to China a couple of years ago. Israel has alot of curious relationships. It is friendly (militarily) with Turkey (Muslim country), South Africa (with whom it jointly developed nukes), India (missile and nuclear technology), and China (missiles, aircraft, radar technology). China and Pakistan are friendly, but Israel has real fears of a nuclear Pakistan, hence it's assistance to India. Israel is in a unique situation, in that its survival is directly dependant upon having a strong military. Politically, it needs to become less dependant on the US, and, as it has few natural resources, the only way it can do this is by exporting technology. However, much of it's technological edge has been gained with US assistance, so it is still dependant upon US approval for alot of these exports! As for the J/F-10, I think a much more capable version will be the planned naval variant which is rumoured to have two engines, air-to-air refuelling, and upgraded avionics, radar and weapons. It's curious that China would design and build an indigenous design like this at the same time they're buying Su-27 and Su-30 fighters which will essentially do the same job. Magoo
In Reply to: Re: Chengdu J-10 Multirole Fighter posted by Chris on January 13, 2003 at 15:36:17 PST:
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