For the JF-30, which only came out in 2021, 2026 is actually the deadline.

Not only the previously mentioned, but also the competition from the F-35A, there are bigger problems.

From the perspective of the international arms market, the JF-30 is actually a disruptor, or a game-changer for the entire advanced fighter market.

Why?

A comparison of the FC-31 will make it clear.

Generally speaking, the FC-31 was actually made for the F-35A, that is, the FC-31 has the F-35A as the main reference target in all aspects.

Well, the FC-31 is going to the F-35A, that is, in direct competition with the F-35A.

It is precisely in this way that the FC-31 is also a typical multi-role fighter, and its advantages are actually mainly reflected in the price.

To put it bluntly, it is to use Huaxia's labor cost to compete.

Of course, the FC-31 is mainly aimed at countries that cannot buy the F-35A, so it is actually the advanced fighter jets of Europe and Russia that are threatened by it.

In general, the FC-31 is not a great threat to the F-35A.

To put it more bluntly, the F-35A ate meat, the FC-31 drank soup, and the two carved up the market for fourth-generation aircraft together, leaving no chance for Europe and Russia.

It is precisely because of this that the appearance of the FC-31 did not have much impact on the United States.

Those countries that want to buy the F-35A will still wait in line, and instead of saying that the FC-31 is cheaper, they will abandon the effort to buy the F-35A.

In this regard, Saudi Arabia and other countries have shown themselves the most prominently.

No matter how strong the interest in the FC-31 is, Saudi Arabia has been working hard to get the F-35A, at most using the FC-31 as a spare tire.

And what about the JF-30?

Obviously, very different.

The point is that the JF-30 does not focus on multi-purpose performance, but on the shortcomings of the F-35A, or the most criticized performance flaw of the F-35A.

Air supremacy combat capability, to put it in more detail, is maneuverability.

You must know that the countries that buy the F-35A may not all need multi-role fighters, and many small and medium-sized countries need air supremacy fighters.

In this regard, the JF-30 poses a serious threat to the F-35A.

To put it bluntly, the JF-30 is aimed at the performance shortcomings of the F-35A, directly competing with the F-35A, rather than grabbing the market for the EF2000, Rafale and Su-35 like the FC-31.

More critically, the F-35A simply cannot compete with the JF-30.

Why?

The F-35A was designed to be a multi-role fighter, with ground strikes as the mainstay, and air supremacy as a secondary mission, or even a non-critical mission.

Nominally, the F-35A mainly replaces the F-16, but in reality, it is very different from the F-16.

You must know that when developing the F-16, the U.S. military was determined to use it with the F-15, so the F-16 attached great importance to air supremacy combat capability when the project was established, and what it lacked was only the ability to carry a large radar, and in terms of agile performance, the F-16 was even above the F-15.

Although the F-16 eventually developed into a multi-role fighter, it came from an air supremacy fighter, and all it had to do was to add a large amount of equipment needed for ground strikes, to do addition, and to obtain a powerful ground strike capability by abandoning maneuverability.

Obviously, it's much easier to do addition than subtraction.

The F-35A is characterized as a multi-role fighter, and in order to develop to air supremacy, it is necessary to do subtraction, that is, to remove a large number of equipment that is not used at all.

This is definitely not an easy thing to do.

To put it more seriously, if the F-35A's air superiority, that is, maneuverability, is to be improved is equivalent to redesigning a fighter.

If nothing else, just structural changes, the design work is huge.

It can be seen that after the design is finalized, the only thing that the F-35A can count on if it wants to provide air combat performance is to enhance the performance of radar and other systems.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work either.

As a medium-sized fighter, the F-35A's fuselage size is not large, so the size of the equipment such as radar is strictly limited.

What about enhancing the performance of the missile?

It did help somewhat, but it could not fundamentally solve the problem of insufficient maneuverability of fighters.

For the U.S. military, this is actually not a problem, after all, the U.S. military still has a powerful F-22A, and the U.S. Air Force has not thought of letting the F-35A carry out air supremacy missions.

For other countries, however, this is a big problem.

The appearance of the JF-30 directly amplifies this problem.

Against third-generation aircraft, the F-35A can also occupy an advantageous position in air combat with strong stealth performance, as well as advanced radar and other electronic equipment.

In front of the JF-30, a fourth-generation aircraft of the same class, what advantages does the F-35A have?

After losing the stealth advantage, what does the F-35A have better maneuverability and the JF-30 is designed for air supremacy from the beginning?

It can even be said that the JF-30 takes air supremacy as the main tactical performance indicator, and it is aimed at the F-35A.

To put it more directly, the JF-30 is aimed at the F-35A, and the value of its birth is to drive the F-35A from the throne of the world's fighter jets.

It's worth it!

That's right, with more than a dozen countries cooperating in research and development, as well as dozens of allies, the F-35A can sell at least 4,000 and maybe 5,000.

So, then what?

There is no doubt that there must have been a lot of countries that had planned to purchase the F-35A to join the JF-30 camp.

According to the most conservative estimates, as long as the JF-30 can be mass-produced around 2026, the final sales volume will certainly not be less than 1,500 units.

Although it is not comparable to the F-35A, it is enough to challenge the market position of the F-35A.

More importantly, when jointly developing the next generation of fighters, other countries will definitely put forward more requirements, such as strengthening air supremacy.

Perhaps, more countries will consider cooperating with China rather than with the United States.

You must know that the arms trade itself is not just a simple trade, and the top arms trade such as advanced fighter jets is closely related to politics and diplomacy.

Relations with the United States are not good enough to be eligible to participate in the development of the F-35A?

In the same way, if you do not plan to cooperate with Huaxia for a long time, or even form an alliance with Huaxia, you are qualified to participate in the development of Huaxia's next-generation fighter jet?

It can be seen that the JF-30 has changed not only the pattern of the international fighter market, but the entire world pattern.

To put it more seriously, the JF-30 is challenging the world hegemony of the United States.

For the United States, options are extremely limited.

Why?

Could it be that for the JF-30, it is necessary to develop a completely new fighter?

Taking a step back, is it possible to carry out a comprehensive improvement of the F-35A for this purpose, to increase the combat capability of the F-35A's air superiority?

Obviously, neither of these is realistic.

Although the United States has strong scientific research capabilities, the cost of scientific research is also frighteningly high, so it is simply unimaginable to develop a new fourth-generation medium-sized aircraft.

With the overall regional stability of the international situation and the contradictions between the major powers under control, it is simply impossible for the US authorities to make taxpayers spend tens of billions of dollars to smash a combat aircraft with a single performance.

Of course, the cost of retrofitting the F-35A is no less frighteningly high.

So what to do?

Obviously, there is only one solution left.