JF-17 Sino-Pakistani MIG-21 New Age
History in brief
History A new lightweight Sino-Pakistani fighter originates in the second half of the 80-s, when Pakistan began to consider the possibility of replacing outdated F-6 aircraft (Chinese clone of Soviet MiG-19), and in the future - F-7 (Chinese version of the MiG-21, in the modification of the F-7P in large quantities supplied by the Pakistani Air Force). As part of the Saber II project (Saber II) in the PRC and Pakistan, the possibility of a radical modernization of F-7 using modern Western equipment has been studied. The American company Grumman was involved in the work, a trilateral contract with which was concluded in January of 1987. The results, however, were disappointing: the plane turned out to be more expensive than the United States offered to Pakistan for only $ 13 million F-16, and its characteristics and operational capabilities are worse. In addition, in 1989, after the events on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the US government banned the cooperation of American companies with China, and Grumman had to exit the program. The attempts of the PRC and Pakistan to continue the “Saber II” project without an American partner were not crowned with success: the sanctions imposed on 1990 against Pakistan, which refused to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty weapons, did not leave a chance to get the necessary avionics of western production.
FC-1's first flight copy
next test flight
In China, at the Chengdu plant, however, work on creating the successor to the F-7 was unilaterally continued. The project was named Super 7, and in February, 1992, the Chinese aviation import corporation CATIC, offered it to Pakistan on terms of equal financial participation and risk sharing. At the first stage, the “Super 7” was planned to be equipped with Chinese-made equipment and weapons with the possibility of subsequent adaptation of Western models. The assembly of serial aircraft in the future was supposed to be adjusted at the facilities of the Pakistan Aircraft Building Complex RAC, which already has experience in repairing Chinese fighters and in manufacturing spare parts for them. At the beginning of 1994, the Pakistan Air Force accepted the Chinese proposal, and in January, the 1995 side signed an agreement of intent.
Fourth prototype PT-4 with bomb
load and suspension tanks
In 1998, an intergovernmental agreement was signed between China and Pakistan on joint development and production of a new fighter, called FC-1 in China (from Fighter China, the first fighter of the original Chinese design). In June 1999, the parties signed a firm contract, but already in October, the program was expected to hit again: the sanctions imposed by the Kargil conflict on Pakistan did not allow a number of potential European suppliers of modern avionics to continue to participate, including French Sazhem and Thomson. and the British "BAE Systems" (offers to foreign companies to participate in the tender for the development and supply of equipment for the aircraft were sent to the Pakistani Air Force back in June, 1996).
Whatever it was, the development of the fighter in 2000 was continued: the main emphasis in the circumstances was placed on the creation of the actual aircraft, the tests of which in any case will take a lot of time. Therefore, a simple wait, until it is possible to solve the problem with a complete set of a fighter with the required Pakistani Air Forces with modern Western equipment, could lead to even greater delays in the creation of the aircraft. In January, 2003 signed a contract for the development of a simplified complex of on-board equipment made in China for the first experienced FC-1.
Meanwhile, at the factory in Chengdu, the construction of the first prototype fighter was already in full swing. The Russian twin-turbojet engine with the RD-93 afterburner chamber, a modification of the RD-29 serials used on MiG-33 fighters adapted for use on a single-engine aircraft, was chosen as the power plant for them. The development of the modified RD-93, which differed from the prototype using the lower gear box, new attachment points to the airframe and a modified control system while maintaining the main traction, expenditure and weight and size characteristics, was carried out by the St. Petersburg firm Klimov. It is in 2002 - 2003. delivered to China the first experienced RD-93 engines for picking FC-1 prototypes.
The building in Chengdu was laid six prototypes of the new fighter, including four flight. The first of them (RT-1) was ready for the summer of 2003, and 25 of August of the same year, test pilot Wang Wendjian picked it up on the first flight. On the same day, Pakistani Air Force announced the assignment of a new name to the aircraft - JF-17 (JF - from Joint Fighter, i.e. the "single fighter", which emphasized the international, Chinese-Pakistani nature of the program, and the number "17" symbolized that the aircraft will become the most modern fighter aircraft of Pakistan Air Force, following the most advanced Pakistani fighter F-16). At the same time, the car was given a proper name - "Thunder" {Thunder - "Thunder"). In China, the fighter has retained the old designation - FC-1.
From the first flight to the first delivery
The second prototype FC-1 / JF-17 (РТ-2) was intended for static tests, and the third (РТ-3) became the second flight model. Its construction in Chengdu was completed less than a year after the first car, and on 9 on April 2004, it took off. Two years later, 28 on April 2006 was joined by the prototype RT-4, which, in addition to assessing the characteristics of stability and controllability, maneuverability, takeoff and landing characteristics, and the work of the main onboard systems, which was carried out To begin working out the complex of onboard equipment made in China. Similar tasks were faced by the sixth prototype (PT-6), which made the first flight of 10 in September of 2006, and the fifth sample (PT-5) was intended for repeated static and life tests.
The first pre-series JF-17 (№07-101) in a special color on the air parade over Islamabad
Ground and flight tests of all prototypes of FC-1 / JF-17 were held in China, at the flight base of the CAC corporation in Chengdu, at the CFTE flight research center in Yenlian and at the PLA Air Force test sites. At the same time since the spring of 2004, Pakistani pilots took an active part in them. Its first flight on the third prototype of JF-17 Pakistan Air Force pilots Majors Mohammad Ehsan ul Haq and Rashid Habib completed already in April 10 2004 was later joined by four more Pakistani pilot, retrained in the British Royal School of test pilots at Boscombe Down and Chinese flight test center CFTE. Despite the fact that the production and testing of the first JF-17 took place in China, Pakistani specialists took a very active part in the program, starting with the development of requirements and concepts and directly involved in the design, construction and testing process. To coordinate work in Pakistan, in February 1995, the Super 7 Project Directorate was established, headed by successively Aviation Vice Marshals Said Anwar, Zahid Anis, Hamid Hawaj and Shahid Latif, and since October 2003, the Project Management Directorate of JF- 17, which since April 2006 was headed by the Vice-Marshal of Aviation Farhat Hussein Khan, and now the Vice-Marshal of Aviation Mohammad Arif.
The first JF-17 (No.09-111), fully
collected by PAC Pakistan, November 2009
Originally conceived in Chengdu as a further development of the F-7, the new fighter eventually acquired a completely new look. With Chinese clones MiG-21, it is essentially related only to close dimensions (aircraft length - 14 m, wing span - 8,5 m, wing area - 24 m2) and mass (empty aircraft weighs 6450 kg, normal take-off weight is 9100 kg, and maximum - 12 400 kg), yes the ventral gun installation caliber 23 mm. FC-1 received side unregulated air intakes, so that in the nose of the fuselage there was enough space for modern on-board radar (for now - the Chinese KLJ-7). The triangular wing is equipped with a fairly developed influx, but that the aircraft is made according to the integral layout of the airframe, typical of most fourth-generation fighter jets, is out of the question. Mechanization of the wing, including swiveling socks and flaps, has automatic control depending on the speed and angle of attack to increase maneuverability. According to the aircraft control system, a compromise solution was chosen: electric remote control is implemented only in the pitch channel, and in terms of roll and heading the control system is traditional, mechanical, with automatic stability control. At JF-17, a fairly economical and high-torque TRDDF is used for contemporaries, and instrumentation equipment is built on the principle of a “glass cabin” with three large multifunctional indicators and a HUD.
In parallel with the flight tests of the prototypes and taking into account the comments made on them, the installation batch of eight pre-production JF-17s that were to be passed military tests in Pakistan was laid in Chengdu. The first two vehicles from this consignment were delivered from China to Pakistan in February 2007. Their final assembly was carried out at the sites of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Kamra (Punjab province in northeast Pakistan). Here 2 March 2007, they were flown around by Pakistani military pilots - Lieutenant Colonel Ahsan Rafik, appointed commander of the test unit JF-17 (JF-17 Test and Evaluation Flight) and Major Hakim Raza. The airplanes received the 07-101 and 07-102 airborne numbers (the first two digits in the number according to the tradition in the Pakistan Air Force indicate the year of manufacture or delivery of the aircraft). Three weeks later, 23 March 2007, both pilots demonstrated the latest Pakistani fighters in an air parade in
Islamabad in honor of the anniversary of the armed forces of Pakistan. At the same time, JF-17 "No." 07-101 on the eve of the parade received a special color in the colors of the Pakistani and Chinese state flags.
A year later, the remaining six machines of the installment batch arrived in Kamra from the People's Republic of China: “No.” 07-103, 07-104 and 07-105 (in February 2008) and “No.” 08-106, 08-107 and 08-108 ( in March). The overflights were performed by Lieutenant Colonels Ahsan, Khalid, Zaim and Hakim. At the next parade in Islamabad, 23 March 2008, viewers could see in the sky over the Pakistani capital already four JF-17 in a tight battle formation.
Made in Pakistan
"We are not just assembling these fighters at our PAC, like some factories involved in the" screwdriver assembly "of aircraft. We ourselves are actively manufacturing parts and assemblies for them," said JF-17 of the Pakistani Directorate of Farnborough. He stressed that serious efforts are now being made to expand the production capacity of the Pakistan Aircraft Complex in Kamra to increase the production, maintenance and repair of JF-17: "At present, we have a complex of four plants in Kamra that employ a large number of employees , because of what we already call this place "Thunder City".
The official launch of the PAC production line for the construction of the JF-17 took place on 22 on January 2008, and on November 23 on 2009, the first Pakistan-made fighter, which received the 09-111 No. and bright the green color with symbols of the national flag of Pakistan (the first two serial JF-17, "No." 09-109 and 09-110, were collected in Chengdu). By July of this year, 16 aircraft had already been released, including JF-17 aircraft, incl. eight pre-series and eight serial (up to the "No." 10-116), six of them - directly in Pakistan. Two such fighters, with onboard "No." 10-113 and 10-114 (serial "No." 0108 and 0106, respectively), and became participants in the Farnborough air show. Unfortunately, they were shown only in a static exposition - they arrived at the exhibition a few days before it began, performing two intermediate landings for refueling in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and flew home two days after closing. Therefore, the participants and visitors of the air show failed to see them in the sky, but Pakistani representatives promised Vzlyot correspondent that this could be done already this autumn, at an exhibition in Zhuhai. where new Pakistan Air Force will be on display in the flight program.
The production capacity of the PAC today provides for the production of 15 - 25 of JF-17 airplanes annually (one or two aircraft per month), and, as stated in Farnborough, "Pakistan’s participation in the joint production of fighters will exceed 50%." In the meantime, apparently, the RAS is specialized only in the manufacture of individual parts and aggregates of JF-17 and their final assembly. The JF-17 Program Directorate, which was distributed at the official press release, reported that the fighters will be produced in batches (blocks) of 50 machines, each subsequent one will differ from the previous implementation of a number of improvements. The first 50 aircraft of Pakistan Air Force expect to receive before the end of 2012. The launch contract for 42 serial machines (eight more, apparently, fell on the machines of the installation batch) was signed by Pakistani Air Force 7 March 2009. At the same time, by 2015 they should have already received 150 such fighters, and the overall needs of Pakistan for JF-17 are estimated at 250 aircraft, which should completely replace the F-7 and Mirage fighters currently in service and the A-5 fighter-bombers.
The first division of the Pakistani Air Force to operate the JF-17 was the aforementioned test squadron (T&E Flight) formed on February 20, 2007, which began mastering a new type of aircraft by personnel, conducting military tests and preparing instructions for flight operations, combat use and maintenance. ... Eight aircraft of the pilot batch entered service with it. On February 18, 2010, at the Minhas airbase in Kamra, near the production complex of the RAS, the first regular combat unit of the Pakistani Air Force, armed with serial JF-17 fighters, was formed - the 26th air squadron, led by Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Mehmood.
Russian "heart" JF-17
Today's experienced, pre-production and first production fighter jets Flying JF-17 are equipped with systems designed and manufactured in the PRC (with the participation of Pakistan). The only exception is the power plant: the engines for them are supplied from Russia, which has often been the cause of serious concern on the part of another major partner of our country in military-technical cooperation and at the same time “sworn friend”
Pakistan - India. And recently, when FC-1 / JF-17, which started to actively move to third countries, apparently faced a competitive struggle for a potential lucrative contract with the domestic MiG-29, the question of the advisability of continuing deliveries of RD-93 to China was raised in Russia. But first things first.
Following the delivery by Klimov of the first prototype engines for FC-1 prototypes, in order to ensure the serial production of these fighters in April 2005, the PRC and Russia signed a contract for the supply of one hundred serial RD-93, estimated at 238 million dollars, with the possibility of further expanding the order to 500 units. The first 15 of them were made in 2005-2006. the company "Klimov", and the production and supply of the rest is carried out with 2006, the Moscow machine-building enterprise them. V.V. Chernyshev. In the conditions of the practical absence of the state defense order, the Chinese contract (along with the production of RD-ZZMK for the Indian MiG-29K / KUB and the repair of previously released engines) became a serious help in a difficult situation at the Moscow plant. Therefore, expecting the imminent completion of the first part of the transaction, his management was interested in the implementation of the option. The second contract for the supply to China of the 100 following RD-93 for Pakistani JF-17 was planned to be signed this spring, however, apparently, the deal has not yet taken place.
As the Kommersant newspaper reported in early July, the head of RSK MiG and the Sukhoi company Mikhail Pogosyan spoke against the continuation of supplies, who sent corresponding letters to the FSMTC and Rosoboronexport. The reason was the fact that the Sino-Pakistani fighter JF-17 began to make real competition to the domestic MiG-29 in some foreign markets. According to the newspaper, we are talking about, in particular, about Egypt, to which Pakistan and China offered to supply and co-produce FC-1 / JF-17. And, as you know, RSK MiG has been negotiating for a long time about promoting its MiG-29 to this country. Of course, the combat capabilities of MiGs are noticeably higher, but the price at which the Sino-Pakistani fighter is offered is significantly lower: according to official Pakistani data, it is about 15 million dollars, while the latest MiG-29 of the latest modifications are sold for 30 -40 million dollars.
As explained to Kommersant in Rosoboronexport, "re-export is carried out in accordance with the decisions of the government of the Russian Federation," and permission for China's possible supply of RD-93 engines from the FC-1 aircraft to Egypt, as well as Nigeria, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Algeria FSMTC was issued back in November 2007. The current head of RSK MiG, Mikhail Pogosyan, stated in this connection that he was generally not against the re-export of individual technologies, "but this must be agreed with the manufacturers of the final products so that re-exports will not harm them" . However, until now, the practice of such coordination, we apparently did not exist. Or, in this particular case, the benefit from the delivery of a large batch of engines to the PRC was recognized as more substantial.
Anyway, the continuation of the production of RD-93 on the MMP them. V.V. Chernyshev so far, apparently, remains in question. Meanwhile, given the constant pressure on Russia on this issue from India and trying to get rid of dependence on engine supplies from our country, China has been working for more than a year on its own analogue of the RD-93, called WS-13 "Taishan". According to some reports, the bench tests of the first WS-13 model were launched in China back in 2006, and at present the experienced engine is already flying aboard one of the FC-1 prototypes in Chengdu. However, as Vice-Marshal of Aviation Mohammad Arif, JF-17 program manager from Pakistan Air Force, told Farnborough, "It will take a long time to finish this engine, maybe five years or more." At the same time, other Pakistani representatives are not inclined to share the pessimism of their boss, believing that "he voiced the worst case scenario, and in fact the engine can be ready much earlier."
There is no doubt that the design of the Chinese WS-13 is based on the same RD-93 (just as when creating the WS-10 Tayhan engine for the J-10, J-11B and J-15 fighters, which was first demonstrated at the exhibition in Zhuhai in November 2008, the technical solutions implemented in the AL-31F supplied from Russia were widely used. However, as in the case of Taihan, when creating the WS-13, Chinese specialists apparently again had to face the problems of ensuring reliability and given weight requirements - the practical experience of developing and own production (even if licensed ) modern turbofans. But, as we know, progress in Chinese engineering has been taking leaps and bounds in recent years, and the day is probably not far off when China itself will also abandon the import of Russian aircraft engines, providing acceptable characteristics of its own developments.
Avionics and weapons
So far, the JF-17 aircraft are equipped with airborne electronic equipment exclusively of Chinese design. The architecture of building the avionics complex is based on two multiplex channels of information exchange, made according to the MIL-STD 1553В standard, with two central computers.
The main sighting system of the fighter is a multi-mode pulse-Doppler radar with a KLJ-7 slot antenna array and an air-cooled transmitter that provides tracking of "a significant number" of targets. For the detection and tracking of ground targets and the use of high-precision weapons on them, the aircraft can be equipped with a container optical-electronic system with thermal and laser channels (the Chinese WMD-17 targeting container was demonstrated at the Farnborough exhibition near JF-7). The use of a helmet-mounted target designation and indication system is also provided.
Air-to-air missiles used on a JF-17 aircraft
The basis of the navigation complex is a satellite-coupled inertial system based on ring laser gyroscopes and standard radio navigation equipment (ILS, TACA1Cidr.).
The information and control field of the cockpit is built using the HOTAS concept and includes three large-format multifunctional color liquid-crystal indicators with the function of data transmission and display of a digital terrain map and an indicator against the background of the windshield with an angle of view of at least 25 °. For recording information is a color video camera and VCR.
The communication system includes two VHF radios and an information exchange system. The defense complex is represented by radiation warning and missile attack stations. In Farnborough, an EW-type KG300G container system developed by the Chinese Electronic Technology Corporation (CETC) was demonstrated next to the aircraft.
Armament, equipment container systems and hanging tanks on the JF-17 can be placed on seven suspension points, with two points on the wingtips only used for suspending melee air-to-air missiles, and the inner wing and ventral nodes are mainly for outboard tanks (one capacity 800 l under the fuselage and two 800 or 1100 l under the wing). Instead of a tank under the fuselage, one free-fall or guided bomb of a caliber of 2000 pounds (about 900 kg) may be suspended. Bombs of smaller caliber, as well as various types of guided missiles and EW containers and target designation are placed on the mid-wing points of the suspension. Thus, the ammunition capacity of a fighter in one departure is not great: in the air-to-air variant it does not exceed four missiles, and in solving the air-to-surface tasks it is one 900 kg caliber (Mc84 or GBU-10 type), four 450 kg caliber bombs (type McKnumx on dual holders), similar container systems or incendiary tanks, as well as one or two air to ship missiles or air to radar. The total mass of the combat load (including outboard fuel tanks) does not exceed 82 kg. The pilot also has a built-in double-barreled X-gun caliber 3600 mm.
Optical Electronically Attached Container WMD-7
The main armament of JF-17 for hitting air targets in the first stage should be Chinese melee air-to-air missiles with two-spectral thermal homing heads PL-5EII and medium-range missiles with active radar homing SD-10A (export version of Chinese PL -12). The first of them can be considered as an analogue of the latest versions of the American AIM-9 "Sidewinder" rocket, but obtained through the own development of the Soviet P-ES and P-13М copied in the PRC. The second can be compared with the American AIM-120 AMRAAM and the Russian RVV-AE.
The development of the PL-5 rocket (in the version of PL-5A with semi-active radar and PL-5B with thermal seeker) based on the Soviet R-ZR and R-ZS began in China as early as 1966, however it could only be put into service after 20 years, and only in the version with TGS. Later, an improved PL-5C was developed and, finally, in the 90s. - substantially upgraded PL-5E with a significantly reduced mass and - for the first time - with the possibility of a full-time attack of the target. The modification of the latter is the PL-5EII rocket, demonstrated on the suspension of both JF-17 in Farnborough. It was developed by the Luoyang Scientific-Production Center for Optoelectronic Technologies (LOEC).
The SD-10A rocket (in the PLA Air Force has the name PL-12) is an original Chinese design, equipped with an active radar homing head (at the initial stage of the flight, guidance is inertial, with radio correction). Its creation in Luoyang began in 1997, and in August 2005, after a series of successful launches from the fighters, the missile tests were completed. The PL-12 is in service with the PLA Air Force with the 2005 and can be used with the J-8F, J-10 and J-11B fighters.
As it became known at the Farnborough air show, tests of the PL-5EII missiles and free-fall bombs as part of the JF-17 aircraft weapons have already been completed (their first tests from the FC-1 prototypes were launched in China in July 2008). The medium-range SD-10A is still ongoing and can only be completed by the end of this year. Also, work is underway to incorporate into the JF-17 armament some of the types of aviation weapons that are already in Pakistan or ordered by them in other countries - in particular, the Brazilian anti-radar missile MAR-1. It is worth noting that in Farnborough, along with the JF-17 aircraft, a heavy Chinese anti-ship missile C-802А was also demonstrated, which is also likely to be integrated into the fighter’s weapons system. It was also possible to see here the planning LS-6 bomb with inertial-satellite guidance, already familiar from exhibitions in Zhuhai, equipped with modules of the wing and tail rudder that was opened after the drop. Its development at LOEC was launched in 2003 and successfully completed in 2006 after a series of successful drops from the J-8B fighter.
While the Chinese engineers and testers and the Pakistani military are mastering and integrating the so-called first stage systems (i.e., the Chinese design) into the aircraft, negotiations continue on the further development of the JF-17 equipment and weapons complex through the introduction of Western-made samples. So, in February of this year, it became known that an interest was shown in adapting to the aircraft the French radar of the RC400 type from the Thales company and the Mika medium-range missiles, as well as some other high-precision weapons. It is believed that Pakistan’s long-standing desire to integrate European avionics and weapons on board the JF-17 could be implemented already in the second batch of 50 serial fighters, which are planned to be launched with 2013 in
"First Chinese" is not only for Pakistan?
Having put into service the first production aircraft and inspired by the positive reviews of the Pakistani military, the creators of JF-17 do not intend to be limited to the Pakistan market alone. Of course, the order in 150 fighters (with the prospect of expansion to 250) is a very good result. But after all, there are quite a few countries in the world that are used to buying, if not far from the most advanced, but nevertheless quite combat-ready, and, most importantly, cheap Chinese-made aircraft. And the competition in the class of supersonic 10-ton fighters is not so strong: so, the Indian LCA "Tedzhas" still can not get out of the flight test stage, and its export prospects are somewhat uncertain, for example, the Swedish "Gripen", which has already won a number countries of Europe and South Africa, is clearly in a different price category.
Under these conditions, with the gradual departure from the scene of the MiG-21 and F-7, the developers of the “first Chinese fighter” FC-1 (although it has not yet caused real, supported by orders, interest from the military in their homeland) can well count on their "piece of cake" in the global market. Soon after the exhibition in Farnborough, a list of countries showing an interest in the novelty appeared in print. Among them are Azerbaijan (!), Bangladesh, Venezuela, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Indonesia, Iran, Congo, Nigeria, Sudan, Turkey, the Philippines, Sri Lanka. Some of them already have quite a wealth of experience in operating Chinese aircraft, which, combined with the traditionally low price of equipment from the Middle Kingdom, can be a decisive factor for preferences.
Of course, in the conditions of today's realities, to beat the “world record” of the legendary MiG-21, which at one time was spreading over fifty countries from around the world, with a total “circulation” of almost 15 thousand copies (together with different versions of F-7), the Sino-Pakistani aircraft is unlikely whether succeed. But gaining popularity as an easy and cheap fighter is quite real. So maybe those who, with some irony, called him at Farnborough just like the “XX-Century MiG-21 of 21st Century” could be right?
JF-17 Thunder serial fighter from the 26 Squadron of the Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force: on the road to radical modernization
The introduction of the JF-17, the first combat aircraft produced by Pakistan's national aviation industry, is a major contribution to the recently launched radical modernization program for the Pakistani Air Force. At the end of last year, the first of four Soviet-made Il-78 tanker aircraft ordered in Ukraine arrived in Pakistan, which will be used for refueling the existing Mirages in the air, and later, after being equipped with fuel pick-up rods, the JF-17. Also at the end of last year, the Pakistani Air Force received from Sweden the first of four ordered AWACS SAAB 2OOO Eriay AEW & C. The second such complex arrived in April, and two more are expected before the end of the year. By 2011, it is planned to receive from China and the first of four ordered AWACS ZDK-03 aircraft, built on the transport platform Y-8 (Chinese version of the Soviet An-12). Finally, in June of this year, US deliveries began of 18 new F-16C / D Block 52 fighters under a 2007 contract, which will add to the fleet of 40 F-16A / Bs operated in Pakistan from 1983-1986. and 18 more machines delivered in 2005-2008. (The latter had to wait for a whole decade and a half here: due to the sanctions that came into force in 1990, an embargo was imposed on the supply of 71 ordered Fighting Folkons, including 28 already paid for and built machines, which was lifted only in 2004. ). Another new type of combat aircraft in the Pakistani Air Force in the future should be the Chinese fighter FC-20 (the export version of the J-10 modernized according to the requirements of Pakistan) - it is planned to purchase from China 36-40 such aircraft in single and double versions.
As a result, by 2015, the Pakistani air forces will include 150 Sino-Pakistani fighters JF-17, 60 American F-16, up to 40 Chinese FC-20 and about fifty Chinese F-7PGs supported by DRLO SAAB XNUM HE aircraft in Africa. "and ZDK-2. as well as the Il-03 tanker aircraft and, possibly, the KS-78. At the same time, the outdated types of aircraft (F-135P, A-7 and Mirage) were planned to be completely withdrawn from service by that time.
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