It’s rumored recently that the export price of J-10CE unveiled on 2019 Dubai Airshow is 40 million dollars, only half of F-16V’s price, but haven’t got any buyers. And Chinese expert Xiao Feizhu analyzed that this is due to multiple reasons, and China should aim for export of the next generation fighters.
It’s reported that J-10CE fighter adopts China’s domestic active phased array radar, photoelectric detection system, integrated electronic warfare system and integrated vitrified cockpit. It can be equipped with domestic PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles, PL-10E infrared imaging fighting air-to-air missiles, precision-guided bombs, stealth air-to-ground missiles and other weapons. So its overall tactical technical indicators can be comparable with F-16V, Dassault Rafale and some other fighters.
But the latter two fighters are much more expensive. Bahrain’s previous purchase of F-16V fighters costed 70 million US dollars each, plus ammunition parts, training, and logistics support, it costed more than 100 million dollars in total. And Rafale fighters purchased by Indian Air Force are more expensive, of which the total cost adds up to 250 million dollars.
Even if 40 million US dollars are only the unit price of J-10CE fighter’s bare metal, plus the cost of ammunition parts and training support, it should be less than 80 million US dollars. This price is only comparable to a bare-metal F-16V fighter, not more than one-third of the price of a Rafale fighter. However, J-10CE fighter jet’s combat capability is not inferior to the other two fighters, which can be said to be inexpensive.
The outside world believes that the main reason for J-10CE’s low price is that its aircraft production scale is large so that the unit cost is reduced. The J-10 series fighters have been mass-produced for many years, with a total output of several hundred, while the number of J-10C fighters itself has exceeded 100.
And recently the domestically produced WS-10A turbofan engine was used to replace AL-31FN from Russia, and the output of this engine was close to one thousand, which further lowered J-10 fighter’s price.
It’s analyzed that J-10CE faces fierce competition in the international market. The price of the Russian MiG-35 fighter is only 50 million US dollars, and its price offered for India is reduced to 45 million US dollars. Not to mention the large number of used F-16 fighters and MiG-29 fighters are being dumped in the international market. According to overseas data, if one used F-16 fighter aircraft is to be upgraded to F-16V, its avionics system would need 15 million US dollars, and its airborne weapons, body and engine refurbishment can be controlled within about 30 million US dollars.
However, more importantly, the procurement of advanced fighters has never been a comparison of just price and performance, but also political factors. It is said that some countries buy American fighters at high prices in order to pay their protection fees. In this case, it is difficult for J-10CE fighter to open these such markets, although it is more cost-effective.
According to Xiao, it is imperative for China to develop export-oriented five-generation fighters as soon as possible to compete in the international market after 2030.
Now the fifth-generation fighter market in the international market is almost monopolized by F-35 fighter. However, Lockheed Martin is now producing F-35 fighters to meet JSF fighter development partners, and it will not be sold to other countries until at least 2025. And Russian Su-57 fighter is still striving for higher capacity and it has no ability to export in batches.
Therefore, if China could launch a type of export-oriented five-generation fighter before 2025, it could achieve good results in the international market.
