Free Republic

China unveiled a set of photos of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s Su-30MKK fighter jets' first training in the new year on January 6, 2019. These photos "inadvertently" revealed a detail: a Su-30 MK2 fighter preparing to take off was mounted with a Chinese PL-12 air-to-air missile. This does not seem to be anything special, but it indicates that China has already been able to modify the Su-30MKK's fire control system to give it the capability to use China’s homegrown weapons. The last thing that aircraft carriers want to see is the Su-30 MK2 fighter jet carrying YJ-12...

To compete with India's Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters, the People's Liberation Army Air Force may consider replacing the RLPK-27VE integrated radar targeting system of its Sukhoi Su-30MKK fighters with more advanced passive electronically scanned array radar, according to the Moscow-based Military Parade magazine. Even though China has shown itself capable of building its own version of Russian fighters such as the J-11B and the J-15 through reverse engineering, many Western experts still question whether the quality of these Chinese fighters is really equal to the Russian originals. This is the reason why China still needs to purchase the Su-35S, Russia's 4.5-generation,...