As the title suggests, China has very realistic issues with the current air tech tree.
Spoiler
Above is what the air tech tree currently looks like.
As we approach the addition of J-11B and J-10B, it draws a serious question, does the far left line make any sense? We are seeing it go from F16A MLU to J-10A, to Mirage 5Ei recently added, and with the addition of J10-B, will return to PLA multi-role. The constant switch between PLA and ROCAF is simply not very reasonable.
A realistic solution to this issue would be to move the entire tech tree to the right, with the Q5/JH7 line following the H5, as already seen with Soviet Mig-27/Su34 line. This then creates a new line, which could be designated to CAIG, and the other devoted to SAC. (CAIG=Chengdu Aerospace Industry Co) (SAC=Shenyang aircraft Corporation)
The lines will thus be as follows:
SAC: J-6, J-8B, J-8F, J-11, J-11A (J-11B)
CAIG: J-7, J-7E, J-10A (J-10B)
This tech will make a lot more sense over the current one, in not only does ROCAF retains a complete line, but also separates SAC and CAIG just like the Mikoyan-Gurevich / Sukhoi lines in Soviet Russian tech tree.
Other vehicles such as J-7G, J-8I are also given space by this move.
- New tech tree by SAC and CAIG
- Retain old tech tree
- Other way of implementing new tech tree