China's fighters undercut Sukhoi in African markets

China's J-10A air superiority combat fighter aircraft falls into the same category as the U.S.-made F-16 Block 40, but it costs at least one-third less.

The People's Republic of China has already started to manufacture a next-version J-11B, based on the Russian Sukhoi Su-27SK.

China denies that its aircraft is an imitation of the famous and highly regarded Russian fighter, as its measurements are smaller. Therefore China does not consider the J-11B to be subject to the Sukhoi Su-27SK licensing agreement or its export restrictions. The J-11B is also likely to be fitted with Chinese WS10A engines and sold in Africa.

In general, the price of Chinese weapons is still about one-third lower than comparable Russian weapons. More importantly, what China wants from Africa is resources, especially crude oil, and it has already exported substantial numbers of weapons in exchange for oil. In dealing with oil-producing countries China has an advantage over Russia, which as a major world oil producer has no need to trade weapons for oil.

For instance, China sold 15 J-7 fighters to oil-rich Nigeria in 2005. Nigeria is another country that has purchased most of its military hardware from Russia in the past. It has a fleet of Russian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF fighters, and the Nigerian army is equipped with 100 Russian T55 main battle tanks.