What we can see so far is that the Chinese air force tree is roughly divided into three lines - the ROC line using predominantly US-made fighters, the PRC line using predominantly Soviet-made fighters, and the mixed bomber line.
In earlier versions, this arrangement was fine, but when the air war moved into modern air warfare dominated by third-generation fighter aircraft and third-and-a-half generation fighters, this arrangement was less appropriate.
The PLAAF was no longer equipped with a single line sufficient to describe it; the Chinese set up two military-industrial groups that followed different paths-Chengdu and Shenyang (there were actually more R&D centers, but the fighters were designed and produced mainly by personnel in these two regions), with Shenyang being primarily responsible for the replication of the imported Russian fighters, their production, and the improvements and to a large extent the equipment development of the Chinese Naval Air Force, while Chengdu is more responsible for completely self-developed programs such as the JF17 and J10. Meanwhile, Taiwan area has been conducting its own modern fighter introductions and R&D, with the Mirage 2000 and F16, and has developed its own design of Asia’s first third-generation fighter, the IDF, with help from the United States.
As a whole, the next Chinese Air Force will have a large number of modern fighters of different styles, including the JF17, FTC2000, L15, L19, J10 family, SU27SK, SU35SK, the J11 family based on the SU27, the SU30MKK, The J16, which draws on both the J11B and SU30 technologies, the J15, a naval aircraft developed on the basis of the T10K prototype acquired from Ukraine, and the F16, Mirage and IDF owned by Taiwan area.
Undoubtedly, there are so many different styles among these aircraft, and so many of them, that two lines could not fit them all.
I would suggest that at least a distinction be made between Chengdu and Shenyang, otherwise the tech tree will be incredibly confusing and crowded.
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I think it is best to divide Taiwan, foreign trade, Shenyang, Chengdu, carrier-based aircraft, bombers, cas
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