Pakistan starts indigenous production of JF-17

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD (July 01 2009): Pakistan on Tuesday joined the club of a select few countries that manufacture fighter aircraft, as it formally launched JF-17 (Thunder) manufacturing project at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra. The multi-role aircraft would be manufactured locally in collaboration with China. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman was the chief guest at the project launching ceremony.

"Start of Final Assembly and FTS today would Insha Allah, lead us to the much-awaited roll out of the first JF-17 from Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra in October this year. As per plan, six aircraft would roll out of the PAC by the end 2009," Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman said in an address on the occasion.

He said, "JF-17 is a light combat aircraft, developed to meet the PAF's specific requirements. It would be replacing PAF's ageing fleet of A-5s, F-7s and Mirages. The aircraft is capable of carrying variety of conventional and precision guided bombs, air to air, air to sea missiles of both short and beyond visual ranges.

The weapon carrying capabilities of the aircraft would enable its employment in day and night multi-role tasks on land, sea and air. It would add to PAF's operational capability manifold and help retain the much needed balance in air power in the sub-continent."

The JF-17 Programme, a symbol of Pak-China Friendship, jointly launched by PAF and CATIC has come a long way. Starting in early nineties with an MoU between the two sides, the programme witnessed many ups and downs, till finally the two governments agreed in 1998 to "co-develop and co-produce" a light weight, low cost fighter aircraft.

The programme came to a halt in 1999 when sanctions were imposed on Pakistan. However, owing to profound friendship of both the countries, and the indomitable will and vision of Air Chief Marshal, late Mushaf Ali Mir, it was revived in 2001.

With the freezing of design, the first prototype took off in a record time of less than two years, and as a result, four prototypes are doing flight testing in China, having already flown over 700 sorties. Likewise, the eight (8) Small Batch Production aircraft that started operations with their debut on national day flypast in 2007, have flown over 1500 sorties and 1000 hours.

"For this landmark achievement, JF-17 PMO and PAC Kamra and, of course, our Chinese friends from AVIC, CATIC, CADI and CAC, all deserve our heartiest tribute and compliments," the Chief of Air Staff said. "With this speed of production, PAF would Insha Allah soon be on its way to establish the first JF-17 squadron," he said.

The Air Chief expressed satisfaction over the progress of the programme and said "God willing, it will not only produce aircraft for use by our two countries, but also ensure third party sales in big numbers." He mentioned the historic friendship with the People's Republic of China. "Indeed, our partnership with the Chinese aviation industry helped nurture the dream of developing a modern fighter aircraft to replace our ageing fleet.

This dream could not have become a reality without this friendship, a friendship that is higher than the highest mountains and deeper than the deepest oceans," he said. Appreciating the role of technical staff, he said co-production of a fighter aircraft was not an easy task. "It is gigantic as well as highly demanding and challenging. Co-production was always an investment-heavy option, but the outcome is priceless," he added.

Earlier, Chairman Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Karma, Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan, presented an appraisal of the project activities. He specifically mentioned the state-of-the-art machines and equipment being inducted for the project and said in most cases, these technologies were unprecedented in the country and represented a quantum leap in the technological ability of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

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