Yep. If it was upto me we would have already had a fighter development project with turkey and just get j10s which wouldn’t come with red tapes. Whatever western fighter we get, we don’t have a free reign on it because we’re Muslims
But J-10CE's performance not that good like F-16/Gripen. It'll be like F-7BGI if BAF inducts it based on geopolitical aspect. Another poor man's F-16. It will act like a deterrent but doubt it will can do anything about IAF's Rafale, Su-30 or Mig-29.
And US approved the sale of 12 F-16C/D Block 70/72 Viper fighter aircraft including associated spares, services, logistics support, training, and munitions for the Philippine Air Force, with an estimated cost of US$2.43 billion. So if we exclude the other things, then how much PAF will pay for each? Less than $202 million? Too much for a C/D variant. Also we didn't sign GSOMIA and AQSA.
Choosing a fighter for BAF is serious problem. Specially when it comes to single engine fighter. If what BAF chief said is right then we should allocate money for MMRCA like the we allocated almost $3 billion for 16 MRCA and put higher requirement like the basic trainer so we can get more ToT but it will be a lot better if really build fighter jet locally like PM announced. Otherwise it's a serious dilemma for BAF. Really don't like this cheek kissing to other countries.