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BEIRUT, LEBANON (8:45 P.M.) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Tuesday that Washington wants to extend the arms embargo against Iran in order to prevent them from purchasing new Russian and Chinese fighter jets. According to Pompeo, the arms embargo against Iran ends in October and this will pave the way for Tehran to acquire fighter jets like Russia’s Su-30 and China’s J-10. “If the @UN Arms Embargo on Iran expires in October, Iran will be able to buy new fighter aircraft like Russia’s SU-30 and China’s J-10. With these highly lethal aircraft, Europe and Asia could...

China's Chengdu J-10 multirole fighter jet may be getting an engine upgrade that will increase its maneuverability and make it harder to detect on radar. Defense News reports that a photo of a J-10C in an unknown Chinese defense magazine features an engine that appears to be equipped with a thrust vectoring nozzle. The engine also appears to have sawtooth edges, according to Defense News, and the bottom part of the compartment that houses the fighter's drogue parachute removed. The new nozzle will enable the J-10 to be capable of thrust vectoring, sometimes referred to as thrust vector control or...

The US Air Force is vigorously upgrading the 1980s-era F-15 fighter by giving new weapons and sensors in the hope of maintaining air-to-air superiority over the Chinese J-10 equivalent. The multi-pronged effort includes the current addition of electronic warfare technology, super-fast high-speed computers, infrared search and track enemy targeting systems, increased networking ability and upgraded weapons-firing capability, Air Force and Boeing officials said. “The Air Force plans to keep the F-15 fleet in service until the mid-2040’s. Many of the F-15 systems date back to the 1970’s and must be upgraded if the aircraft is to remain operationally effective. Various...

China have given the green signal for exporting its domestically-developed J-10 fighter as the country looks to attract buyers at the Singapore Airshow, the media reported on Thursday. A large-scale model of the FC-20, the export version of the J-10, is on display at the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp booth at the six-day Singapore Airshow 2016 that started on Tuesday. It is an unspoken rule in China's defence sector that weapons solely designed for the People's Liberation Army are never displayed at foreign exhibitions, so the model's appearance in Singapore carries a clear indication: that China now...

On Wednesday, Barack Obama made a weak plea for support to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement with Iran. He even went so far as to castigate opponents of this foreign policy faux pas as equal to Iran’s maniacal Islamists. Obama states the only alternative to accepting his deal is war. Well, we already reported Russia’s looking to sell Iran a fleet of aerial refueling tankers. Now, there’s another report about an Iranian weapons purchase — and the report is not coming from our media. As reported by the Jerusalem Post: Iran is beginning to reap the fruits...

Iran will reportedly allow China to develop its largest oilfield for two decades in return for the delivery of 24 Chengdu J-10 fourth-generation multirole fighter jets under a deal estimated to be worth $1 billion, the Taiwan-based Want Daily newspaper reported. If both governments confirm that the agreement is a go, and neither has done it so far, Tehran will become the second country to operate the export version of the J-10. In 2009, Beijing sold 36 J-10B jets to Pakistan for $1.4 billion, Watch China Times noted. The jets, ideal for both ground assaults and electronic warfare, are produced...

Iran is about to conclude a transaction with China for the purchase of the Chengdu J-10 multirole jet fighter, known in the West as the Vigorous Dragon, according to an exclusive report from DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources. Beijing has agreed to sell Tehran 150 of these sophisticated jets. While the Chinese J-10 is comparable to the US F-16, our sources report that it is virtually a replica of the Lavi, the super-fighter developed by Israel’s aerospace industry in the second half of the 80s. Israel sold China the technology, after Washington insisted on Its discontinuing the Lavi’s production. The...

The J-10C — the upgrade version of China's J-10 fighter, designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group — may be able to catch up with the American F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and surpass most of its European counterparts, according to the Beijing-based Sina Military Network. China is still unable to fully compete against the United States, Russia and France in developing 4.5-generation fighters, but the advanced fighters are important for the People's Liberation Army Air Force and Navy Air Force to fill the gap before fifth-generation stealth fighters — such as the J-20 and J-31 — are ready for service. Many...

On November 6th Zhang Jigao, deputy chief designer of the J-10 fighter, spoke about the improved model J-10 publicly for the first time in the AVIC flight test center. Zhang Jigao told People's Daily Online reporters that the overall performance of the J-10 will be comprehensively improved in areas such as aerodynamic layout, mission system, and the approach to maintenance. In March 2009, pictures of our improved model J-10 fighters appeared for the first time on the Internet, and netizens quickly began to call it the "J-10B". Over the last five 5 years, several images of the test J-10B have...

J-10 fighter not yet approved for export BEIJING, October 10 (ChinaMil) --As global attention has been drawn to when China's in-service top-grade home-made J-10 fighter aircraft enters the international market, Ma Zhiping, vice president of the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC), disclosed recently that many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America had already enquired about price of J-10. According to Ma Zhiping, many clients have contacted to enquire the price of J-10 series fighters. These clients came from various countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and include those traditional users of Chinese military aircraft as...

Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group to produce 1,200 J-10 fighters Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group will produce a total of 1,200 J-10 fighters for the PLA Force to counter F-16 fighters over the Taiwan Strait and Western Pacific, according to our sister paper Want Daily. The Moscow-based Voice of Russia says the J-10A uses the Lyulka-Saturn AL-31FN turbofan engine imported from Russia due to difficulties in the development of China's WS-10 Taihang engine. The newer J-10B variant will be fitted with the Taihang engine. Geng Ruguang, senior vice president of China Aviation Industry Corporation, said the development of the J-10, Taihang engine...

J-10 in live-fire training, all 28 rocket projectiles hit targets On August 21, a division of the air force under the Guangzhou Military Area Command (MAC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched a ground target live-fire training, in a bid to further improve the troop’s actual-combat capability. In this live-fire training, the leaders of the division and regiments participated in the flight and organized technical researches. They proposed subjects for the aviation theory exam, and marked the papers to analyze technical difficulties based on existing problems. Seminars were held for pilots to clarify the implementation methods, safety measures...

China test its J-10 fighters near borders with India Beijing: China has conducted a massive military exercise in the high altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, close to the disputed borders with India, during which it has for the first time tested the multi-role J-10 fighter jets. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force have conducted ground attack training over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the "first operation of its kind", official media here reported. According to a report and photos released by PLA Daily yesterday, the ground crew of J-10 regiment fuelled the fighters and loaded ammunition on the 3,500-meter-high plateau at temperatures below...

Chinese J-10 Fighter Unit Makes Maiden Flight with Live Ammunition in Tibet 15:38 GMT, February 2, 2012 On January 31, 2012, at a military airport of the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Tibet, an aviation regiment stationed in Tibet equipped with J-10 fighters launched the year 2012’s first training of two-fighter confrontation with live ammunition. At 10:10, with the ear-piercing roaring sound, two J-10 fighters soared to the sky like arrows from the bow. At 12:30, two fighters that had just finished the training landed on the tarmac. Peng Lizhong, head of the second fighter...

China signs deal for 150 Russian fighter jet engines: Report BEIJING: Russia's top jet engine-maker has signed an agreement to supply over 100 high powered engines for China's new fleet of fighter jets, but Beijing is yet to ratify the deal as it is apparently miffed by some stiff conditionalties of the deal, a media report said. "The contract will involve 140 to 150 engines, but it has not been confirmed by authorities in Beijing," Alexander A Drozhzhin, the head of press for SALUT, a top Russian company that manufactures engines for the Su-27 aircraft, regarded as the fourth generation...

China defense industry faces homemade engine troubles Wednesday, July 20, 2011 By Robert Karniol, The Straits Times/Asia News Network SINGAPORE -- China can send a man into space and a rocket into lunar orbit but, paradoxically, its defense industry cannot build a top-end aircraft engine. Or an engine sophisticated enough to power advanced surface ships and armored vehicles. But this broad statement requires a caveat: China's defense industry can indeed design, develop and produce propulsion systems for relatively simple military platforms — certain transport aircraft, patrol boats, some types of main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers. But high-performance combat...

More Russian Engines for China’s J-10 Fighter By: David Donald July 18, 2011 China has signed a fifth contract with Russia’s Rosoboronexport for the supply of Saturn AL-31FN military turbofan engines from the MMPP Salyut factory to power the Chengdu J-10 multi-role fighter, according to reports from Moscow. The reports say the $500 million contract covers 123 engines for delivery by 2013, with the first 13 expected before the end of this year. This would take known Chinese procurement of the AL31FN to 399, plus an unspecified number provided in an initial batch for prototypes and pre-production aircraft. Such numbers...

Venezuela in talks to buy military aircraft from China, including fighters J-10 The J-10 fighter is among the possible military procurement that Venezuela is closing with China. The Venezuelan government is negotiating with China to purchase new aircraft combat training, transportation and hunting, according to informed government sources. The Chinese aircraft, in some cases, models will replace Americans with operational limitations due to the United States to limit the sending of spare parts.

Posters for Russia military holiday 'showed Chinese jets' (AFP) – 14 hours ago SAINT PETERSBURG — Hundreds of posters decorating Russian streets for a military holiday accidentally replaced Russian planes with Chinese fighter jets, an official admitted Tuesday. Posters displayed in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg showed a plane against a national flag. But instead of a Russian jet, it was in fact a Chinese Chengdu J-10, or Vigorous Dragon. The slip, reproduced in around 250 posters, was an error by the designer, who was unfamiliar with military planes, said the head of the city's media committee, Alexander Korennikov....

A few days ago, China Central Television showed footage of what they claimed was an air force training exercise conducted on January 23. From the looks of things, they were actually just playing clips from Top Gun.