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Chinese have already compensated the absence of VCE to some extent by making their sixth gens Larger(more fuel storage equals more range) with higher thrust and electrical power (with extra engine).
It also has drawbacks like being hard to maneuver extra, weight of 3rd engine but the 3rd Intake may also be used for cooling purpose imo thus reducing the cooling requirements to some extent.
it's a weird quasi sniper-bomber type of platform.(PL-17 OR larger SFDR type AAM all can be hidden inside IWB along with ARMs and YJ-21 type AShMs)
Remains to be seen how this works against other VLO fighters and it's cost to performance ratio.
Reminds me of this recent article written by the current Chief of Defence Staff Gen Chauhan:-
Tactics Led Force Modernisation

Tactics Led Force Modernisation
Clausewitz in 'On War' has rightly said, that 'Every age has its kind of war, its limiting conditions, and its peculiar preconceptions.

He says the current paradigm in Indian defence modernization and procurement planning is of technology led modernization. Under that framework, IAF ASQR for a 6th gen fighter would have explicitly mentioned a VCE. So an alternate approach like the Chinese one you mention, wouldn't ever have been pursued by the Indian defence apparatus.
Only in the paradigm of tactics led modernization can a system not only come up with but then also actually implement ideas like this Chinese one you described.
Do read, this is the core issue of a lot of our current weapons development programs, the so called delay and resulting capability gaps. This new paradigm can correct all these flaws. Because under this framework, or defence forces won't just read brochures of the latest foreign mil tech and then give requirements and then sit and abuse DRDO for not catching up to Western technological levels and producing a similar weapon to the latest Western one.
They'll instead look at Indian technology readiness level and build not just tactics but also a novel Indian weapon system that can be made in India without any further technological development. A fusion of new weapon and tactics that can present an asymmetric counter to the latest and greatest enemy technology like a 5th or 6th gen fighter for which we don't have technological readiness to present a symmetrical counter on time.
I'm genuinely ecstatic that our nation's top brass is actually thinking these things right now. Makes me hopeful for the future of our Military Industrial Complex
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