It's not a surprise that one platform to take many roles but it might need some heavy modifications right ? JF is light weight what we are looking at it is to replace our F-7 interceptor and Mirage III/5 deep strike , and you know better that both roles required different configuration right ?
by 2025 our F-16 old block will also be pretty old , and their retirement time will be close, FC-31 is still a decade a head .. there might be some sort of backup plan PAF will be looking ?
maybe add JF block 3 in numbers to make it like 200-250 ?
The payload capacity of the Mirage III is only marginally higher than that of the JF-17, and the respective ferry ranges of both fighters are very close. In other words, the JF-17 is no less of a strike fighter than the Mirage III. Yes, for its time the Mirage III was an industry fighter-bomber, but in today's age, its core dimensions are very similar to that of modern light/medium-weight fighters, such as the JF-17. Granted, the JF-17 would not be a massive improvement over the Mirage (in terms of range and payload), but it wouldn't be a step backwards either. For a serious improvement in strike, the FC-31 - with the internal weapons bay, added range, and increased overall payload - would be ideal.
Ireesponsible miss use of funds if PAF buying old F 16 even with no upgrades it is useless because in that sum of old F 16 with MLU we can get New J 10 with good range we could have ordered J 10 in mushy era rather than going for F 16 we could have built on them
If u see and count since 2006 we got aroung 30 F 16 out of these 18 are new and 12 are old and if u total the amount of these we could have bought 40 J 10 in same amount and all 40 would have been new and superior to F 16 in all termd
JF 17 programme started due to US samction on F 16 now when thunder is armed why going back
If the PAF is to get used F-16s without upgrading them, it would get them via EDA or for peanuts from other air forces. In the end, these non-upgraded used birds could be great replacements for the F-7 until such time more JF-17s roll-out the production line. It's also important to ask ourselves, what is the added benefit of just 40 J-10s when we have to set up an entirely new logistics channel for it? Just another medium-weight fighter? Why not just spend a fraction of that money on EDA F-16s (the cost of which is transit), and put the rest towards JF-17 and FC-31?
would that not make sense 250 jf-17's to replace the j7's and the mirages and what ever is left over can be replaced with more of the 5th gen fighters.
There are a few issues. The PAF is looking to replace a lot of fighters by 2020, so to do that it would have to ramp up JF-17 production to the maximum possible. There are risks with that strategy. For one thing, it is expensive, even more so than picking up EDA F-16s (without upgrading them).
There is also a second aspect as well, and that is the fact that the
lifetime production of JF-17s for PAF will reach 250-275, but it would do so in the form of many different blocks, each in accordance with the era's technologial trends.
For example, the PAF might stock up on lots of old F-16s from now until 2020, but it may simply replace those old F-16s with new variant JF-17s (e.g. Block-IV, Block-V, etc) as they become available. In other words, JF-17 production will not stop after 2020, nor will it be the end with Block-III, we're going to keep seeing JF-17 in new forms and variants for a long time, even in the 2020s and 2030s.
These new JF-17s would be considerably more advanced and capable than the Block-I and Block-II because they would incorporate the technology of the day as well as developmental changes. By extending the production of the JF-17 into a long-term and gradual process, the PAF would be able to make the most out of its up-front investment, control costs, as well as keep developing the JF-17 platform.
I honestly believe that after 2020, we will see a massive re-design of the JF-17, something akin to what the Super Hornet is for the original Hornet, or the Block-52+ is to the original Block-5, or the Gripen NG to the original Gripen.
