On Wednesday, Pakistan’s flying crown JF-17 Thunder shot down two Indian fighter jets in an air combat near the line of control (LOC). Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) admitted that it lost one MiG-21 and the pilot is missing.
The downing of an Indian aircraft jet represents the first-ever KILL of a fighter jet by JF-17 Thunder. Previously, it had shot down an Iranian drone in 2017.
JF-17 Thunder is an advanced, light-weight, and multi-role fighter aircraft, which is a joint masterpiece of Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC), China.
PAC had rolled out first JF-17 prototype aircraft (called FC-1) in May 2003. It made its first flight in August 2003 and was formally presented to nation on 23-March-2007. First PAC natively produced JF-17 aircraft was handed over to Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in November 2009. To date, more than 100 fighter jets of JF-17 (Block I and Block II) have been delivered to PAF.
Pakistan is also quickly moving forward to produce next-generation JF-17 Thunder Block III aircraft, which will be equipped with Chinese-made active electronic scanning array (AESA) radar system.
The dual-seated Block III will also be supported by newer multi-functionality display (MFD), more powerful engine (RD-93MA) to lift the maximum speed to2,500 km/h (>2 Mach), helmet mounted display, upgraded avionics suit and electronic warfare, and built-in air-to-air refueling.
Last year, Pakistan Air Chief had announced that the design of the JF-17 Block III has been finalized. Under Project Azam, PAF is expected to add 28 fighters of these latest variant in 2019. First 2 Block III will be constructed in China and the remaining 26 in Pakistan.
Additionally, PAC has established a new office – Aviation Research, Indigenization & Development (AvRID) to develop fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) to meet the needs of Air Staff Requirements (ASR).
The FGFA team will be responsible for the development of such kind of advanced aircraft while AvRID will ensure the supply of the required technologies and systems. The success of the development of FGFA would entirely end Pakistan’s reliance on foreign suppliers.
So far, Myanmar and Nigeria has signed agreements for the purchase of JF-17s from Pakistan while several other countries including Malaysia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have shown keen interests.
The latest JF-17’s hunt would attract new potential aircraft buyers from relatively smaller economies as it is low-cost fighter jet, backed by advanced avionics features and proven killing capabilities.
In comparison, Indian domestic light combat aircraft (LCA) program that began in 1980s hasn’t yet added a single fighter jet in Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet.
More than 35 years after the idea was conceived, it was just this month when Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)’s domestically produced weaponized aircrafts Tejas LCA Mark1 (or Mark1A) got the final operation clearance (FOC). The first prototype of Tejas had flown way back in January 2001.
Even though, HAL has produced the first batch of 20 Tejas Mark-1 but IAF has shown its resentments on the performance of existing Tejas. IAF has ordered HAL for a total of 40 Tejas Mark-1. India is expecting to replace Tejas with the aging fleets of MiG-21s.
In December 2017, IAF had also issued a single vendor tender for purchase of 83 Tejas Mark-1 (or Mark-1A) from HAL but its offer was repeatedly been found non-compliant. India had earmarked funds for this purchase in November 2016.
HAL is also working on an improved version of Tejas, Mark-2. IAF could potentially buy up to 200 fighter jets of Mark-2 variant. But the major problem with Mark-2 is that it is still on the drawing board and could not fly at least for another five years.
As a matter of fact, HAL Tejas has taken a shocking over three and a half decades to reach at current level. On the other hand, JF-17 Thunder has not only gathered operational experience but has also found international buyers as well which makes it more popular.
Moreover, JF-17 is in active service for 11 years and is a battle-proven fighter jet. It has performed commendably during Pakistan army’s military operation Zarb-e-Azb and lately in air combat as well. It was never made to compete with F-16, rather just to replace the aging fleet.
The fact remains had the Tejas even close to good, Indian Air Force would have not been looking for French Rafales and Russian MiG35s. The hard truth is that even after 35 years of development, the Tejas continue to be plagued with problems.