JF-17 won the coveted Aerospace Laureate 2012 Award
ZHUHAI: Curtains were lowered for the 9th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition here on Sunday with an impressive participation of Pakistani JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft for the second time in the show.
The six-day exhibition that was largely participated by customers and experts from aviation industry was declared closed by the Chairman of the Standing Committee of Zhuhai Municipality Wang Guangquan here Sunday evening.
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) availed the opportunity very well by participating in the show to introduce to the outside world the capable JF-17 fighter aircraft which offers cutting edge technology at an affordable cost.
A day before start of the exhibition, on November 12, the PAF along with China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC), jointly won the coveted ‘Aerospace Laureate 2012 Award’ for working together on a successful aircraft development and production program.
The award was jointly received by Chief Project Director JF-17 Program of PAF Air Vice Marshal Javed Ahmed and Chief Project Director of CATIC Li Pei from Pakistani and Chinese side, respectively, in the presence of a large number of guests and media.
CATIC is a large scale state-owned conglomerate with aviation products and technology import and export as its core business. Headquartered in Beijing, CATIC has 7 specialized companies and 10 regional subsidiaries in China and 56 overseas branches worldwide. With its total assets of up to RMB24 billion and accumulated import and export volume of $24 billion thus far, CATIC ranks among the first 20 of China’s top 500 enterprises for import and export.
“This is a big achievement and acknowledgement for Pakistan and China for cooperation in their joint effort for the promotion of aviation industry”, remarked Group Captain Tariq Mahmod, PAF director media.
In addition to the impressive aerobatic and static display, PAF had also setup a stall at the exhibition, where the intending customers were briefed about the significant characteristics of the fighter plane and the weapons it can carry.
Earlier last week, three JF-17 Thunders specially flew from an operational Base in Pakistan, stopped in two cities for refueling or due to inclement weather before reaching Zhuhai.
As the JF-17 roared in the sky for aerial display and aerobatic show, thousands of visitors, customers, experts and media persons were enthralled by skills of the PAF pilots and performance of the aircraft. The PAF contingent at Zhuhai was led by Air Vice Marshal Javaid Ahmed.
The JF-17 made its debut at Farnborough Air Show in 2010, when two JF-17s flew all the way from Pakistan to Farnborough, UK. Four months later in November 2010, three JF-17s flew over to China to participate in Zhuhai Air Show, where the aircraft made its first ever aerobatics display. In June 2011, three JF-17s participated in aerobatics and static display in 100-years Celebrations of Turkish Air Force and subsequently three JF-17s also participated in Dubai Air Show in October 2011. At all these Air Shows, the JF-17 attracted intense focus of visitors and international media.
The JF-17 Thunder is an all weather, multirole, light combat aircraft that has the potential to be the main stay & work horse of any air force. The design of JF-17 aircraft is based on modern concepts of aerodynamics.
The aviation exhibition featured 650 companies from China and other countries, with more than 100 plane-related products on show. The mayor thanked the PAF for sending its contingent to the show and praised the aircraft performance and serviceability during the show. He invited the PAF to participate again at Zhuhai in 2014. The PAF team thanked the chairman and the public of Zhuhai for their excellent hospitality.
Pakistan JF-17s display incredible performance during Zhuhai Air Show – TheKooza.com