ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is all set to receive the first 12 of26 dual-seat JF-17B Thunder aircraft in the near future, according to Jane’sDefence Weeklylink.The delivery of remaining jets will be completed in 2021.
The revelation was made by Air Chief Marshall, Mujahid Anwar Khan, in aninterview with the magazine.
Out of the 12, 4 multirole fighters have been built at the Chengdu AircraftIndustry Corporation (CAC) whereas the remaining 8 at Pakistan AeronauticalComplex (PAC) in Kamra.——————————
The JF-17B has come a long way after its prototype flight which took placein April 2017 in China. The rolling out ceremony for the dual-seat variantof the fighter jet took place in December last year at PAC Kamra.
The Chief of Air Staff believes that the induction of JF-17B will help PAFstreamline the training process for its pilots. With its induction, PAFpilots will graduate to the Thunder at a much younger age, he told.
The JF-17 pilots are currently being posted to Lockheed Martin F-16,Chengdu F-7PG or Dassault Mirage IIIEA ROSE aircraft before converting tothe JF-17.
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But they will start going straight to a JF-17 OCU [operational conversionunit] after completing their advanced jet training.
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PAC Kamra’s newly appointed chairman, Air Marshal Syed Noman Ali, has alsohinted at the test and evaluation of Block III’s second prototype equippedwith Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology (NRIET) KLJ-7Aactive electronically scanned-array (AESA) radar in May this year.
