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| Chinese J-10A Fighter (File Photo) |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
Is Tehran going on a military shopping spree in Asia?
China allegedly has agreed to sell 150 J-10 multirole fighter jets to Iran, the Israeli military intelligence website DEBKAfile reported last week.
“Beijing has agreed to sell Tehran 150 of these sophisticated jets,” the website states, based on information obtained from unnamed intelligence and military sources.
No public officials from either country have denied or confirmed the weapon deal so far. It is also unclear whether the purchase would include the Chengdu J-10A or the modern J-10B version of the plane.
However, according to other media reports earlier last month, Beijing is considering selling the J-10B fighter to potential customers in in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Pakistan reportedly already signed a deal for the purchase of 36 J-10A jets in 2009.
The single-engine Chengdu J-10 is a multirole fighter jet that first entered service with the Chinese air force in 2004 and is purportedly comparable to the U.S. F-16. “The J-10 was a tricky aircraft to build and was beset by numerous design flaws, including a notable failure in its fuel system in the late 1990s,” a War is Boring contributor noted. There have been persistent rumors that the J-10 is a replica of Israel’s cancelled Lavi fighter jet prototype. One analyst reported in 1996 that “after Israel discontinued the largely U.S.-funded project, it sold China the plans for the Lavi and the associated secret U.S. technology.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat