Key Points and Summary – China’s J-10C fighter is emerging as a “turnkey” solution for arming nations outside the Western orbit.
-The jet’s watershed moment came in May 2025, when Pakistani J-10Cs successfully shot down multiple Indian, French-made Rafale fighters
J-10 Fighter From China. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-This combat success proved that Chinese hardware can defeat advanced Western technology, making it a highly attractive export.
Now, after showcasing the jet at its recent Victory Day parade to potential clients from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Beijing is in renewed talks to sell the J-10C to Iran, signaling China’s growing role as an arsenal for the anti-Western world.
J-10C: Beijing’s “Turnkey” Solution for Arming America’s Adversaries
China’s Chengdu J-10 fighter is truly a milestone in Beijing’s long road towards achieving aerospace self-sufficiency.
It’s the country’s first truly indigenous multirole fighter and a decisive break from decades of reliance on foreign technology – particularly the Soviet-derived designs that had long defined earlier Chinese jets.
Its development has compelled the Chinese aerospace industry to master advanced systems, including fly-by-wire controls, composite materials, and modern avionics integration.
That work in itself has proven valuable in terms of simply producing the J-10.
Still, it also paved the way for later projects like the stealth J-20 – as well as the completely unmanned stealth drone, known only as Type B, that was seen at the September 3 Victory Day parade in Beijing.
Why the J-10C Matters
In many ways, the J-10 marked China’s arrival as a serious player in military aviation—and that leap in capability is now being exported across the anti-Western world.
In 2022, Pakistan became the first foreign operator of the J-10, inducting the aircraft into its air force as part of a broader push to modernize against regional rivals.
The deal demonstrated that Chinese aerospace technology could now supply advanced frontline fighters to countries outside the Western orbit—and the aircraft soon proved itself during a recent conflict with India.
Combat Fighter
In May 2025, when Pakistan fielded its Chinese-made J-10C Vigorous Dragon during its most serious clash with India in decades, the jet ultimately downed multiple French-made Rafale multirole fighters.
J-10. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Over four days of fighting triggered by Indian strikes in Kashmir, the Pakistan Air Force deployed its new J-10C alongside other assets. For the first time, these Chinese fighters were tested in a high-intensity conflict against Western-designed hardware.
Pakistani officials say that J-10 squadrons destroyed multiple Rafales during air-to-air engagements, while analysts noted that the J-10C – armed with China’s long-range PL-15 missiles and AESA radar – matched up well against the Rafale’s Thales radar suite and Meteor missile system.
The story reached international headlines, and for good reason: it proved that China is capable of producing hardware that can be utilized by countries and armies unable to purchase or access Western hardware.
Iran Now Buying the J-10C
Iran is now eyeing the J-10, and there is speculation that countries such as Bangladesh, Algeria, and Myanmar may also be interested.
And they may be the first in a long line of new customers queueing up to purchase China’s increasingly capable military hardware.
The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which brought together leaders from the Global South and Eurasia to discuss cooperation with the largest economies in the Eastern-aligned world, coincidentally took place only days before the September 3 Victory Day parade in Beijing.
Many of the leaders in attendance of the SCO summit were invited to Beijing to see the parade – including North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un – to witness China display its nuclear triad in full for the first time, alongside a host of other impressive new hardware.
It should be clear by now that China is not only seeking to build the most significant military on the planet, but also to provide its allies with hardware that can compete with the West.
Will China Arm America’s Adversaries?
Reports from June and July 2025 revealed that Tehran recently reopened talks with Beijing about the possibility of acquiring the Chengdu J-10C.
Industry press said Iranian defense officials view the J-10C as a leading candidate to quickly fill gaps caused by recent losses during the 12-Day War with Israel, and to replace its aging fleet. Reports cited leaked Telegram messages from within the Iranian defense sector.
The reports followed talks between Iranian and Chinese officials in Beijing.
“The talks come as Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh visited China, reportedly exploring the possibility of purchasing Chinese-made ‘4++ generation’ J-10CE jets, which have demonstrated strong regional performance in Pakistan’s fleet,” Defense Mirror reported in June.
When asked about the reports, China’s Foreign Ministry was cautious and noncommittal in its response. But that doesn’t mean the sales aren’t going ahead; in fact, they probably will. In a statement, the spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed that “several countries” were already in discussions about the procurement of weapons and aircraft, including the J-10.
The spokesperson added that China is prepared to “share the achievements of its equipment delivery with friendly countries.”
In other words, anti-Western countries.
Why Buy This?
China’s J-10C – with its AESA radar, PL-15 missiles, and China-only parts and maintenance network – gives Beijing a turnkey way to arm allies completely shut out of Western markets.
After the SCO summit, expect more courtship of Iran, Myanmar, Algeria, and Bangladesh.
Pakistan’s wartime deployment of the J-10C and its widely-reported victories against India’s French-made jets proved China can make military hardware that competes with Western assets – and Beijing just put it on parade for dozens of potential new buyers.
About the Author:
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York who writes frequently for National Security Journal. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society. His latest book is The Truth Teller: RFK Jr. and the Case for a Post-Partisan Presidency.
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montimer a mason
September 6, 2025 at 4:11 pm
There is no physical evidence –– no debris sites, no valided eyewitnesses, no electronic evidence, no multi-nation intelligence reports, etc. –- that the J-10C “shot down” anywhere near “multiple” Rafales. That simply is a many-times, many sourced debunked Chinese and Pakistani propaganda point. What we do know, Mr. Buckby, is We KNOW from debris at two sites –- debris photographed, filmed, staked out, captured by satellite photography, observed by international military aviation and general audience journalists, and undergoing analysis by intelligence investigators from at least three separate nations––that TWO confirmed and ONE shoot-downs occurred: An SU 30, a MiG 29, and a POSSIBLE Rafale shoot-down (the cause of crash of a Rafale on return landing at its airbase remains ambiguous, at best, and certainly contested to this day)
Additionally, a possible Mirage 2000D shoot-down MIGHT have occurred, although that, too, remains a contested account(as the “evidence” is a crumpled fuel tank of the sort that the Mirage series detaches in combat)
WHAT WE DO KNOW AS CONFIRMED via international satellite photography, observed and verified debris, and multiple nation intelligence reporting:
1. It took over forty (40) J-10s and J-17s against a wing of fourteen (14) Rafales —a three-to-one numerical advantage to Pakistan — to POSSIBLY have downed one sole Rafale.
2. ADDITIONALLY: Pakistan fielded a three-to-one numerical advantage in advanced AWACS over India to coordinate the J-10 and J-17 aerial armada against the out-numbered Rafale
3. STILL FURTHER: China provided direct ground countrol/vectoring assistance AND realtime satellite data link during the conflict.
4. And for all of that, that Pakistan and China could down only ONE sole possible Rafale is in no objective reading a “triumph” of the J-10C.
It is a pathetic showing.
TAKEAWAYS:
1. Pakistan COULD NOT and DID NOT stop India’s Rafales from striking and destroying multiple Pakistan clandestine paramilitary assets, ranging from near border installations to Pakistani airbases, strikes that India undertook for several days in the so-called Sindoor operation
2. FOR ALL OF CHINA’S AND PAKISTAN’S COMBINED RESOURCES, that the Chinese-assisted Pakistani combined air armada could only down –– POSSIBLY–– ONE sole Su 30 and ONE SOLE Rafale is not now or ever a “victory.” It is, in fact, somewhat pathetic.
3. FOR: If the Chinese J-10 and J-17 were supposedly so inherently “superior” to the Rafale, the combined DOZENS of J-10 and J-17 would have shot down DOZENS of Rafales –– and the world would see DOZENS of debris sites, numerous dead, wounded, and captured Indian pilots–– as incontrovertible confirmation of the “battle-tested” J-10C.
But the Chinese and the Pakistani achieved so such air dominance, let alone air superiority.
Mr. Buckby, what one would charitably call your execrably shoddy reporting, amounts to to anti-fact, anti-Truth gaslighting one expects from the likes of the odiously stupid and dishonest Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Aki
September 7, 2025 at 10:32 pm
I know Chinese propaganda, when I see one. 😂
You think countries buy multi million dollar jets based on paid journalist reviews? Oh China
JohnDiren
September 9, 2025 at 11:40 am
AI chinese generates videos? tiktok quality? salami snackbar
montimer a mason
September 9, 2025 at 2:08 pm
Spot. On. I called out this “journalist” on his distortions and outright lies, all of which parrot Chinese and Pakistani talking-points. We KNOW that neither Pakistan nor China ensemble “shot down” multiple Rafales. We KNOW that India’s Rafales targeted and destroyed, by contrast, “multiple” terrorist targets AND Pakistani airbases and Chinese defense assets over several days of Sindoor, and that neither Pakistan alone nor China and Pakistan combined could or did stop the Rafale strikes. We KNOW that with a three-to-one numerical advantage in fighters, advanced AWACs, and direct Chinese ground control/vectoring AND satellite datalink coordination, that both China and Pakistan can only truthfully claim a POSSIBLE sole Rafale shoot-down is, in fact, a pathetic showing: FAILED decisive interdiction; utterly FAILED air superiority.
This article is an egregious FAIL on the facts. It is a laughable self-revelation on the part of the “journalist” as to his, charitably put, “biases,” and more likely the paymasters who paid for his efforts