Interested to see views/opinions on the J17.
I have been up very very close to this bird and what did surprise was the quality of the workmanship, particularly the skinning steps/gaps. I expected some "agricultural" soviet finish, indeed a lot of the Chinese metal bashing that I have seen on my travels through China over the past 2 years has also been pretty poor. The cockpit and 3 very large colour MPD's of western origin, wide angle HUD and Martin Baker have been busy replacing the dodgy Chinese bang seats with a lightweight version of the MK10.
Now you might argue "big deal" but if the Chinese really are showing signs of addresing their quality issues just think what else they have improved. Their is no doubt they are learning lots from Boing and Airbus in terms of production techniques (based on assembly of Airbus A320's and building big lumps of Boeing B737's)
The organisers of Farnborough Airshow did not want the J17's to demo. Understandable really because the young PAF pilot (ex F16 guy) reckoned his "Thunder" would have shown up the Typhoon but more importantly you could buy 7 J17's for the price of one Typhoon. Not every nation can afford (nor wants) F35's Rafales, Typhoons etc. If the Chinese get their act together and produce a decent engine without Russian help I predict big sales of this aircraft so lets not be too complacent !!
2427mb
I have been up very very close to this bird and what did surprise was the quality of the workmanship, particularly the skinning steps/gaps. I expected some "agricultural" soviet finish, indeed a lot of the Chinese metal bashing that I have seen on my travels through China over the past 2 years has also been pretty poor. The cockpit and 3 very large colour MPD's of western origin, wide angle HUD and Martin Baker have been busy replacing the dodgy Chinese bang seats with a lightweight version of the MK10.
Now you might argue "big deal" but if the Chinese really are showing signs of addresing their quality issues just think what else they have improved. Their is no doubt they are learning lots from Boing and Airbus in terms of production techniques (based on assembly of Airbus A320's and building big lumps of Boeing B737's)
The organisers of Farnborough Airshow did not want the J17's to demo. Understandable really because the young PAF pilot (ex F16 guy) reckoned his "Thunder" would have shown up the Typhoon but more importantly you could buy 7 J17's for the price of one Typhoon. Not every nation can afford (nor wants) F35's Rafales, Typhoons etc. If the Chinese get their act together and produce a decent engine without Russian help I predict big sales of this aircraft so lets not be too complacent !!
2427mb