HOT PRESS!!!
ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 23-Dec-2010
Jane's Defence Weekly
Pakistan to build radar for JF-17 'Thunder' fighter
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent - Islamabad
The chief of staff of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has told Jane's that Pakistan has built its first facility to manufacture radars for fighter aircraft.
Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman said the indigenously produced radar, built with China's assistance at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), in Kamra, north of Islamabad, would equip the JF-17 'Thunder' fighter aircraft jointly produced by the two countries.
"This is a major step forward. This will be the first such [radar manufacturing] facility in Pakistan," ACM Suleman said in an interview on 21 December at PAF headquarters in Islamabad. He confirmed that the radar would be fitted on the JF-17, which, along with US-supplied F-16 Fighting Falcons, is set to be the PAF's front-line combat aircraft.
Previous reports suggest that the radar to be manufactured will be the Chinese-built CETC/NRIET KLJ-7 radar set. At the 2010 Farnborough Air Show, at which two JF-17s made their debut in the West, Jane's reported that the KLJ-7 had received full marks from the JF-17's designers at PAC.
A PAC programme officer told Jane's : "I have flown with this radar and with other models that we have looked at fitting to this aircraft, such as the Thales RC400, and the Chinese radar is every bit as capable as its contemporary analogs."
The PAF plans to induct up to 30 JF-17s by the end of December 2010. PAC is currently producing more than 30 per cent of JF-17s components, although senior officers involved with the programme say this will likely jump to about 60 per cent by the end of 2011.
"This programme [JF-17] has come together on a fast track. For Pakistan to make the radar suggests they are getting into complicated systems and adapting them to their own needs," a Western diplomat in Islamabad told Jane's .
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao concluded a high-profile trip to Islamabad on 19 December during which companies and the governments of both countries signed contracts worth up to USD30 billion.
In a communiqué issued after the visit, China and Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to further joint development of military hardware. "The two sides agreed to step up personnel training, joint exercises, training and co-operation for national defence, science and technology and collaboration in defence production. The two sides also agreed to give further impetus to maritime security co-operation," the communiqué said.