I remember three days, during which every tom, dick and harry with an opinion was laughing and pointing at Iran. Gotta say - I'm siding with the Iranians on this one. | Flight surfaces will have to change, won't use the ejection seat from an old F4, and won't use Garmin domestic products for it's "instrument" panels.| ...right. In other words, it wouldn't be a "mock up." ...because it was the anniversary of the Iranian revolution. You missed my point. I never said this was "modern." I said it would fly. China has had indigenous aircraft since the '50s using licensed Russian designs. As far as engines, who cares? Even Ilyushin used American engines for a while. You can continue to laugh and point, but I'm not feelin' it.I remember that slightly different. No one doubted that it was our drone, and that part was confirmed almost immediately.
They said they hacked it and then remotely flew it back to their airbase and landed it safely, whereas the US would later say "It malfunctioned and we lost contact with it. It went into a flat spin and probably crashed, that's why they have the bottom skirted off".
So yes they could be working on a new plane, but why try to sell us this as "real"?
Plus, building a modern fighter is difficult, even China can't get it right.