JF-17 Block-3 -- Updates, News & Discussion

[TheTallGuy]

This year still has nearly six months left.

Besides, the delivery of Block-3s will have to coincide with delivery of Rafales next door.

Brother, Delivery of 6 x rafale is on 27-Jul-20 and we haven`t seen a single flying Block 3. lets be serious here..Block 3 is delayed...PAF is in urgent need of 1-2 sqn worth of aircraft to bridge against rafale...it has nothing to do with horus mirages. they are acquired if its official now for keeping mirages numbers up. PAC is producing whole of next year 2020-21 only JF17 Block 2T (JF17B) to complete the 26 x aircraft order. 8 including 2 x FSD aircraft already delivered.

I do not repeat expect not a single Block 3 induction till mid of jun 2022

 

[Bilal.]

Brother, Delivery of 6 x rafale is on 27-Jul-20 and we haven`t seen a single flying Block 3. lets be serious here..Block 3 is delayed...PAF is in urgent need of 1-2 sqn worth of aircraft to bridge against rafale...it has nothing to do with horus mirages. they are acquired if its official now for keeping mirages numbers up. PAC is producing whole of next year 2020-21 only JF17 Block 2T (JF17B) to complete the 26 x aircraft order. 8 including 2 x FSD aircraft already delivered.

I do not repeat expect not a single Block 3 induction till mid of jun 2022

No need to panicked on Rafale’s arrival. Even if JFT block 3 comes in 2022 with all systems matured and up to mark as envisioned it would be ok. It’s not a race. No need to hurry it through and receive subpar equipment. I would say, they should wait and have RD93MA in it.

 

[Pakistan Space Agency]

Brother, Delivery of 6 x rafale is on 27-Jul-20 ...

... I do not repeat expect not a single Block 3 induction till mid of jun 2022

Let's wait and see.

 

[Syntage]

No need to panicked on Rafale’s arrival. Even if JFT block 3 comes in 2022 with all systems matured and up to mark as envisioned it would be ok. It’s not a race. No need to hurry it through and receive subpar equipment. I would say, they should wait and have RD93MA in it.

You are right, its not a race to acquire jets but its a game of integrity and survival brother.Can we afford to be late under these circumstances?Will India wait for us when it has rafael?

PAF should leave 93MA for BLK04 and assemble BLK03 ASAP.8% extra thrust should not hinder us from deterring Rafael which is about to appear.

 

[Bilal.]

You are right, its not a race to acquire jets but its a game of integrity and survival brother.Can we afford to be late under these circumstances?Will India wait for us when it has rafael?

PAF should leave 93MA for BLK04 and assemble BLK03 ASAP.8% extra thrust should not hinder us from deterring Rafael which is about to appear.

Rafale full operationalization is a couple of years away. And we have enough to counter in Feb-19 like scenario.

We are expensive assets that will serve for decades and need to be as future proof as possible.

 

[serenity]

7 Indian Rafale will still need some years of familiar training and tactic development to integrate with rest of Indian airforce. Of course still receiving them ahead of blk 3 and this is problem for when those Rafales begin to become fully operational. Will India use a few Rafales to make successful attacks on Pakistan? When India received many Su-30MKI which thought to be much better than Pakistan's older F-16 of that era, did they use airforce in war on Pakistan? There's a chance they may with Rafale but it's definitely not for sure right?

Opening up war with Pakistan on the back of a few Rafales is not smart. They will still lose a lot of things but Rafale gives them advantage when they get it. Pakistan will need to figure out the stations of Rafale and destroy them. So maybe the Rafales will only do some limited damage until their airbase get destroyed. We are talking about opened war not just skirmish. Skirmish advantage probably is in IAF favor once they develop training and tactics for Rafale so blk 3 and better fighters are urgent if that is a risk. But Pakistan can escalate such a skirmish to even up and destroy those Rafales anyway. India to receive 36 in total not 360. With blk 3, Pakistan can build as many as they can afford.

 

[Tameem]

Brother, Delivery of 6 x rafale is on 27-Jul-20 and we haven`t seen a single flying Block 3. lets be serious here..Block 3 is delayed...PAF is in urgent need of 1-2 sqn worth of aircraft to bridge against rafale...it has nothing to do with horus mirages. they are acquired if its official now for keeping mirages numbers up. PAC is producing whole of next year 2020-21 only JF17 Block 2T (JF17B) to complete the 26 x aircraft order. 8 including 2 x FSD aircraft already delivered.

I do not repeat expect not a single Block 3 induction till mid of jun 2022

If under the guidance of Saab 2000 Erieye AEW&C Radar JF17-Block 2 could fire PL-15 and take care Intruding Rafale threat in a defensive maneuver then we could wait JF17-Block 3 to mature until 2022 with RD93-MA engine, accessories and doesn't needs to panic. If not, we definitely need a stop gap solution to take care immediate Rafael threat.

However, Seeing the ease and calm since first flight test of JF-17 Block-3 at PAF. It seems they have some contingency solution at their hand to how to deal with Rafale in the interim period and they are not in a panic mode at all.

 

[Shah_Deu]

You are right, its not a race to acquire jets but its a game of integrity and survival brother.Can we afford to be late under these circumstances?Will India wait for us when it has rafael?

PAF should leave 93MA for BLK04 and assemble BLK03 ASAP.8% extra thrust should not hinder us from deterring Rafael which is about to appear.

Lets be honest here, Rafale is no Alien-Flying-Saucer. IAF would ideally want to hurl Meteors on our jets from a distance they deem we cant reply, which again would be assuming that we dont possess PL-15s and even if we dont, they know a 101% that we would retaliate not only to match their tally but to even exceed it.

Additionally, neither would they be eager to test our EW capabilities again especially on their newly bought toy.

The IAF that I know would never attempt it until they are sure, they have a huge technological and numerical gap with PAF which they dont, especially after 27 Feb, when they were reminded of it once again. A downed Rafale would be the last thing the Endians would like in the present circumstances. Needless to say, Dassault wouldn't like this sort of marketing either.

 

[serenity]

Rafale is not super fighter. Many analysts all regard Rafale as poor choice for most airforce. Typhoon is best 4.5 generation but French manage to put AESA before Typhoon which still does not have in service with AESA and Rafale has Meteor ready to fire and integrated with their new AESA. Otherwise Rafale is much better suited for French navy and airforce. It is a fighter purposefully developed with French airforce and navy requirements acting simultaneously.

India choose it over Typhoon because it has Meteor and the AESA but other areas, Rafale is really more suitable for French who selected Rafale size for their aircraft carrier. Of course maybe India's situation is fine with this particular fighter over another choice like Su-35 or Typhoon. But I think India's requirements in MCA competition demand some domestic production and technologies from winner. Of course now these are changing a lot in details but French win this contract not just due to performance and suitability but also some decisions based on Indian production, assistance with engine development and other technology offers to India.

If the problem for PAF become about range of missiles and radar range, which India realized last year they are shorter than PAF, then stealth fighters will be much better than blk3. Can PL-15 with air cooled small AESA unit perform better than faster Rafale and larger more powerful missile and radar? PAF will need many more blk 3 to balance 36 Rafale then.

AZM program needs to be the real counter response to Rafale and not blk 3. Blk 3 is building up backbone high quantity force slowly for large scale war.

 

[Deino]

Guys ... we are in the JF-17 Block 3 thread and we already have several topics discussing directly or indirectly Azm ... please leave it out of this one!

 

[Fawadqasim1]

Project azm is a pipe dream we need a good 4.5G fighter now i.e in the next few years.

 

[polanski]

China ramps up production and export of JF-17 fighters: https://www.globaldefensecorp.com/2020/07/15/china-ramps-up-production-and-export-of-jf-17-fighters/

 

[Mrc]

China ramps up production and export of JF-17 fighters: https://www.globaldefensecorp.com/2020/07/15/china-ramps-up-production-and-export-of-jf-17-fighters/

This shud b block 3 as last block 2s are in production at PAC

 

[araz]

This shud b block 3 as last block 2s are in production at PAC

I think this is simple rehashing of old news. Block 3 will make its appearance either later this year or more likely early next year. PAC want to test everything and sort out any snags before they start production. Engine also MAY OR MAYNOT BE AN ISSUE.
A

 

[Mrc]

I think this is simple rehashing of old news. Block 3 will make its appearance either later this year or more likely early next year. PAC want to test everything and sort out any snags before they start production. Engine also MAY OR MAYNOT BE AN ISSUE.
A

So Chinese are producing for 3rd party export and why are they increasing pace of production as per above news?