I think the JF-17 will form the mainstay of our fleet for a fairly long time and efforts are being made to ensure the fighter is of contemporary standard. According to the PAF ACM, none of the primary avionics & ECM/EW on JF-17 are "old" and are of contemporary standard - i.e. same generation as counterparts used in at least JAS-39C/D & F-16 Blk-52+. There is no doubt that with the batch-II that these capabilities will be improved and upgrades will continue to roll out throughout JF-17's PAF service. I am willing to bet that even the weapon-systems will be of Meteor & IRIS-T standard in the form of T- & A-Darter.
Now onto the 5th generation fighter; first we must accept that a project of this scale will not be disclosed by PAF whether it exists or not. However going by Pakistan's general track record, it will always study new concepts. Network-centric capabilities have been explored since the mid-1980s, initiated in the late-1980s and gradually progressed to this day. So the purpose of this thread is not to dictate what the PAF should do, but what we should discuss and expect.
For starters...look at how the JF-17 was produced. It was no simple big purchase with ToT...PAF was part of the development since day one. Hence the Thunder is not a fighter we just imported, but something we developed with the heavy assistance of China. To prove this...look at where a lot of the manufacturing machinery came from...Sweden. If we were importing with ToT, where do you think PAF would be getting the machines needed to produce JF-17? So when looking at JF-17, consider that PAF learned a lot and gained significantly in many areas. In fact it has gained so much that it can confidently say that with time it will produce the entire fighter - except engine - at home. This is not like buying F-16 and calling it P-16...this is development akin to the Eurofighter and JSF project.
So with regards to any 5th generation fighter, we must think about the possibility of Pakistan taking up more responsibility in its design & development than it did with JF-17. IMO this discounts the project from being the Chinese JXX...I do not think our 5th.gen fighter and China's JXX will be the same. For one the JXX is a highly exclusive Chinese project that has been going on since perhaps the early 1990s. Second we must realize that as odd as it may sound, Pakistan itself too has independent public policies and interests. I can guarantee that there people within the military think tanks that are pragmatic enough to begin slowly moving away from foreign-centric policies and move towards truly independent interests. Of course this is very difficult to translate into the political situation we have now, but there is always a start.
You will see that any 5th generation Pakistani fighter will be a political symbol translating both power projection, industrial capacity, R&D and independance. Note that this does NOT discount foreign assistance from countries like China, Italy, France, etc, but we are looking at assistance. Note that Pakistan will develop avionics and weapon-systems for JF-17...through the AWACS project I think radar & ECM/EW as well. So with systems of the 4 to 4.5+ generation category being developed in Pakistan, who is to say that without a bit of contracted assistance we would not develop the next generation?
Regarding the airframe; well remember that we knew what was going on with JF-17 since day one. PAC/PAF know the methodology, resources, effort and knowledge required to produce JF-17...and would have to drag all that into Pakistan so that it can manufacture the JF-17 airframe. Again...foreign assistance from China & E.U (France & Italy) may be used to help us with a 5th generation fighter. However also look at the recent MoU with Turkey, it expicitly says cooperation in design of low-RCS airframe. Now this could mean something like a ALCM or UAV, but given the fact that TAI is involved with the JSF - we must know they have some serious stuff to offer. This adds another element into a Pakistani 5th generation fighter project...
The PAF had it made it clear that multi-national consortiums are the principle arenas where new weapon-systems are being developed. Now if you look around..."non traditional" partners like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, Algeria & Egypt might be something to look for in this project. For one Saudi Arabia has no apparent 5th generation fighter option...but through Eurofighter will gain a lot, and with their resources develop themselves a lot. The Turks do have JSF/F-35, but they too are looking for extra capability and a true National Fighter to solidify their stance in the West. Malaysia, Algeria and Egypt I can explain reasons for them if you want.
So what would a Pakistani 5th generation fighter be? Well for one I think it would be a shift in doctrine...it might symbolize a phase from single-engine defence to twin-engine power projection. Note that PAF will require a fighter that can serve standard in as many missions and requirements as possible...that includes maritime. Then the addition of consortium partners such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia...would the Turks look for redundacy of a single-engine support fighter...what has been the Saudi doctrine been lately?
)firing long range AA misile against su-34e we can easily break Russians air superority.
