The Chinese Air Force won more with less, and suddenly gave the world the illusion that the Chinese army was not only huge in size, but also in combat power. While news media reports do not say how many South Korean warplanes China shot down, some sources speculate that the number is at least close to 10.

Although China and South Korea are vague, there is no doubt that not a single plane of their own side was damaged, and the fact of shooting down many South Korean fighters is undoubted. In addition, the FC-1 equipped by the Iranian Air Force has basically suppressed the Iraqi Air Force, and at the same time, the ship attack warfare in the Iran-Iraq War in the second half of the year has gradually weakened due to the repeated attacks on the Iraqi Air Force. In addition, the contract between Pakistan and China for the FC-1 has also been disclosed.

This confirms from different aspects that the equipment level of the Chinese Air Force is quite high, and some people even boldly predict that the Chinese Air Force, as an apprentice of the Soviet Union, has surpassed the Soviets and ranks only behind the equipment capacity of the United States.

In fact, South Korea had already placed an order for F-16 fighters from the United States in 1981, and the delivery period was from 1986 to 1991, with a total of 36 F-16C fighters. It's just that this batch of fighters still does not have advanced medium-range interception projectiles that are ignored after firing, and the main weapons are still AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder.

After the 90s, South Korea also obtained a production license and produced more than 100 F-16C/D in batches of 50/52, which they themselves called KF-16 fighters, and these fighters constituted the main combat force of South Korea's air defense for a long time.

At this time, the South Koreans have not seen what their F-16 looks like, but it is estimated that it is not as powerful as China's main fighter. Previously, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense had obtained an FC-1 sales leaflet distributed by AVIC abroad, and this Chinese fighter was marketed with such gimmicks as "over-the-horizon air combat does not matter after firing", "has a complete range of multi-purpose capable bombs", and "is low in price and cost-effective".

The F-16 is naturally not an advanced medium-range missile that is not available after firing, and perhaps the F-16 they are about to get is also multi-purpose, but it is a pity that the Maverick missile and the Penguin anti-ship missile were only added to the F-16 batch of 150CU, dated in 1987. Harpoon anti-ship missiles, JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munitions), and JSOW (Joint Standoff Weapons) were also added after batch 50/52. The anti-radiation missile Mozu AGM-88 is a 50/52D modification. That is to say, the current F-16 can only fight AIM-7 and AIM-9 in air combat, and can only fight Mk80 series unguided bombs, CBU-87/89 cluster bombs and Paveway series laser-guided weapons on the ground.

What are the Chinese bombs of the FC-1 series? The Blue Arrow series of anti-tank and construction targets, anti-ship missiles include the small C-701, the slightly larger C-705, the C-802 and C-803 missiles with performance comparable to Harpoons, the C-901 for anti-radiation, and the KD-88, Thunderstone series gliding bombs, and Thunder series composite guided bombs for land attack. However, there are no cluster bombs in these munitions, because this thing is particularly lacking in morality, and it is extremely easy to cause unexploded ordnance to harm civilians, even if China has mastered the technology to produce cluster bombs, but Qi Yiming still strongly advocates not exporting this weapon.

From this comparison, it can be seen that the early model of the F-16 really cannot compete with the FC-1 Thunder, which actually belongs to twenty or thirty years later.

The South Koreans determined that the fighter that shot down them that day was not the FC-1, but they thought that it should be the legendary main fighter of the Chinese Air Force, which would not be used for export, and the combat performance of the FC-1 may be weakened compared to the main fighter, but the basic combat capabilities have been inherited. According to the confessions of the South Korean pilots who survived the air battle, most of the South Korean fighters were shot down during over-the-horizon air battles, and the most impressive thing for the South Koreans was the kind of missiles that they had no way to dodge.

If advanced fighters and missiles made by the Chinese can be obtained, then the strength of the South Korean Air Force can be greatly improved. In addition, China's sale of South Korean weapons has considerable political significance, and South Korea sees it as a blow to its old enemy, North Korea.

After that day's meeting, Qi Yiming made a private phone call to Grumman and informed them that he intended to pay South Korea in this way. It's just that he didn't expect that Grumman was more attentive than the Koreans, and even the next day, Pelehaq, the president of Grumman's international department, who was originally in Beijing, took a special plane to Seoul to discuss this issue with Qi Yiming.

Qi Yiming still underestimated Grumman's enthusiasm for the FC-1 light advanced fighter project, and they judged from the beginning that this fighter would not only be interested in the third world of the country, but even in many moderately wealthy countries, especially Singapore, South Korea and other emerging developed countries.

As soon as Pelehaq saw Qi Yiming, he handed over a cooperation intention prepared by his company overnight, and Qi Yiming was not surprised to see that Grumman was required to be second only to Chengfei's project status, and hoped to obtain almost all of the technical indicators and project parameters of the FC-1 to better improve this fighter. Their proposal was to replace the FC-1 with the APG-66 radar, replace it with an American-made engine, and then make certain improvements to the fuselage by Grumman.

Qi Yiming smiled when he held this letter of intent and said: "The KLJ-7 radar we equipped with for the Thunder and the APG-66 used by the F-16 are roughly in between, and the level of the Thunder's glass cockpit is also far better than the current F-15 and F-16, and our WS-13A engine has a thrust-to-weight ratio of 8 and a thrust of 86 kN, which is also better than the level of F404." To put it bluntly, our offer to seek cooperation with the US side is just to make it easy for both the ROK and the US side to accept it, but it is impossible for anyone to take the lead. ”

Pelehak is also a body of strength, Qi Yiming is not wrong at all, FC-1 is already a mature fighter developed by the Chinese, and has achieved results in the Iran-Iraq battlefield. Grumman's proposal to replace the parts is basically a move to add to the snake, and the only effect that can be achieved is to increase the cost of the Thunder. The biggest reason why an aircraft manufacturing company like Grumman is proud of aircraft manufacturing companies in other countries is the ability to integrate systems, such as radar, weapons, and power from different companies, to get a single aircraft. Unfortunately, there may be a certain gap between Chinese counterparts in this regard, but the integration of FC-1 has already been completed, and there is nothing they can do if they want to integrate again.

Despite this, Pelehaq was still ready to play a scoundrel, he said: "Mr. Qi, South Korea, as an important ally of our United States of America, needs to be highly unified with us in defense, hehe, the military command on South Korean soil is still in the hands of our country, so what kind of fighter the Koreans use, in the final analysis, is not their own decision, and a purebred Chinese weapon, even if the Koreans want to get it, they will not be allowed." Partnering with us is the right way to go. ”

Qi Yiming has long been accustomed to these arms dealers who are polite but have men and women behind them, and he is not angry, and replied with a smile: "It doesn't matter, we have various psychological preparations for whether South Korea will finally accept our plan, if South Korea gives up, although it is a pity, we can still accept it." And we can't expose weapons platforms that could be worth billions to our probable mall adversaries just because we have to pay tens of millions to South Korea. ”

Pelehak saw that Qi Yiming was also a bachelor enough, and said urgently: "Mr. Qi, please remember that we are good partners with China!" ”

"Yes, we are partners, but it does not mean that we in China can dig out our hearts and lungs for Grumman." Qi Yiming said slyly.

Pelehak couldn't change Qi Yiming's mind, and indeed as long as reasonable people understand that it would be really stupid to leak important technical indicators because he wanted to sell some FC-1 fighters to South Korea, and sell the fighter platform that he had exhausted his efforts to develop.

"So how does Mr. Qi want this project to proceed?"

"First of all, the FC-1 is our aircraft and our project, so there is no doubt that the overall design and system integration of the fighter are all done by us, and some of the sub-projects can be subcontracted, and we are also happy for Grumman to undertake this part of the content. In addition, all the major subsystems, such as avionics, power, and weapon systems, are in our hands in China, and we will make changes if customers have special customization requirements.

Let's put it this way, if we change the Thunder with our American friends, our positioning is that a general-purpose joint fighter that can adapt to the multinational battlefield, and the fighter needs to have a relatively strong replacement capacity, that is to say, if the customer wants to use a Chinese-made radar, it can be equipped with a Chinese-made radar, and if it wants to use an American-made engine, it can be replaced with an American-made engine. This requires a high level of modularity of the individual components. In the spirit of openness, the Chinese company will send individual technical indicators to the participating partners, and then install the machine for testing, and the completion will be considered as a pass. ”

Pelehack didn't expect Qi Yiming to put forward such an opinion, but he also knew in his heart that this idea of unified standard customization has gradually begun to sprout in the active fighters in the United States, such as F-15 and F-16, and then there must be the ability to replace the F110 and F100 engines, and the radar avionics are the same.

In this way, the US company basically gets data such as the center of gravity of the whole aircraft, the structural dimensions of the nose docking, and the size of the engine compartment, while the flight control system and weapon management system, which China is proud of, will not be open to the Americans.

Pelehaq calculated that Grumman's participation in such a project is definitely profitable, but it does not make much, because the majority of the head is in the hands of the Chinese, but think about it, if this version of the Sino-US cooperation fighter can be sold, after the number is up, Grumman will be more profitable. In addition, the F-14 project is the main part of Grumman's current life, and Grumman cannot offend China because he wants to compete with China.

Qi Yiming himself thinks that in fact, it is completely unnecessary for the FC-1 to be equipped with Western systems, but it is easier to rely on the influence of the United States to break into the market of American allies, and this big cake was previously targeted by the United States. If you can fool Grumman, General Electric, Hughes (Hughes was officially broken up in 1985, after which most of the missile and radar business was transferred to Raytheon), and General Dynamics, the owner of the F-16, the obvious main competitor, will have a lot of trouble parrying.