Pakistan: JF-17 suspended (google translated)
China withdrew from the project fighter Sino-Pakistan. Islamabad is left alone to finance development.
Is this the end of the JF-17? There is uncertainty about the program since China has decided to retire in the utmost discretion, about a year ago. Officially, the Light Combat Aircraft no longer meets the needs of its air force. Signed in 1999, the partnership focused on the development and manufacture of a multirole aircraft in partnership with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and several Chinese companies, including Chengdu Aerospace Corporation. PAF wanted to develop an aircraft to replace its fleet of F-7P and Mirage III / V 2015. In June 2009, she started the serial production of JF-17 aircraft Kamra complex, 80 km from Islamabad (see A & C No. 2196). Three squadrons, about 50 aircraft are in service today. Problem: the development of the JF-17 is not completed and the aircraft is not fully operational. Several arms originally envisioned have not been validated. The engine, a Klimov RD-93 Soviet-designed technology suffers from about 50 years old: smoke in the air, large thermal signature, lack of thrust ... With the withdrawal of China, PAF is thus found only to complete the development of its aircraft. Which could cost him dearly. It will buy the parts from Chinese subcontractors, as it realizes that the final assembly of the aircraft on its base Kamra. A particularly thorny issue that the Pakistani state is in a difficult financial situation.