Sino-Pak Shaheen III Air Exercise Commences in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD — China and Pakistan commenced their third installment in the Shaheen (Falcon) series of bilateral exercises here over the weekend, according to a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) spokesman.
Shaheen III is described as a multi-dimensional joint exercise aimed at boosting cooperation and imparting knowledge gained through flying/combat experience conducted in a near real scenario, allowing participants to familiarize themselves with the latest concepts and practices.
Though the location within Pakistan of the exercise has not been revealed, the Chinese are participating with a Chengdu F-7 and a Chengdu J-10 aircraft, along with associated support crews and equipment. The PAF is participating with JF-17 Thunder, Mirage and F-7PG aircraft.
Shaheen II was held in China in 2013 and lasted three weeks, but the PAF would not comment if Shaheen III will be held for the same duration.
Asked if the limited number of aircraft would hinder obtaining worthwhile experience from the exercise, former Australian defense attache to Islamabad Brian Cloughley said he did not think “the point of the exercise is entirely professional improvement but rather that it has political connotations.
“The fact remains that there is undoubted mutual benefit in joining with other air forces in practicing techniques and this is no exception. No doubt both the PAF and the PLA(AF) would have welcomed greater numbers from the latter, and it would be interesting to know the reason for the modest PLA contribution, but I don’t think there is anything deep in this,” he added.
Similarly, analyst Usman Shabbir of the Pakistan Military Consortium think tank said the event is “just a regular exercise to keep pilot and crew training up to date.”
Though he added, “The exercise is a great advantage for both air forces, as Chinese pilots get a chance to fly against an adversary whose training and tactics are Western based and PAF gets a chance to fly against a new type.”
Shabbir did, however, highlight that the exercise marks the debut of both the JF-17 in the Shaheen series, and the first time the J-10 has participated in an overseas exercise.
The exercise comes at a time when speculation among analysts once again points toward a possible purchase of the FC-20 variant of the J-10B for the PAF. However, Shabbir believes this to be a little wide of the mark.
The speculation stems from reports in the Chinese media of negotiations involving the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), the home of Pakistan’s aviation industry, to co-develop or at least co-produce a variant of the J-10.
However, Shabbir is unsure if this means Pakistan will acquire the FC-20, a previously agreed advanced variant of the J-10B that appears to have been abandoned in favor of more surplus F-16s. He speculates the negotiations may be focused more on production capacity issues in China and Pakistan, with PAC hoping to repeat success it had with a similar deal with Turkey.
“PAC has been marketing itself as a facility that has unutilized capacity to produce various airframe parts and components on a commercial basis. That is how it [PAC] came to produce airframe parts for Turkish Anka UAV,” he said.
It is possible, he said, there will be a “similar setup ... where PAC is just going to produce airframe parts and ship them to China for final assembly, thus reducing the pressure on the Chinese line.”
At present, various sources indicate that the number of J-10 aircraft in service with the Chinese Air Force and Navy is a little over 200, but with production ongoing. However, both forces require more to replace large numbers of legacy types. ■
Email: uansari@defensenews.com.
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