The agreement was signed on
behalf of PAF by Chairman Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Air Marshal Khalid
Chaudary and President CATIC MA Zhiping which was witnessed by Chief of the Air
Staff PAF Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed and Ambassador of China to
Pakistan Luo Zhaohui besides other senior officials from both the parties.
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Under the agreement the lot of
42 aircraft would be co‑manufactured by China and Pakistan and later these would
be inducted in the PAF’s fleet.
Talking to media, Air Chief
Marshal Tanvir Mehmood Ahmed congratulated the peoples and governments of
Pakistan and China on conduction of successful tests and trails of the most
modern aircraft of its class and signing of agreement for start of their serial
production.
He said “despite all odds we
have been successful to reach the stage of starting serial production of the
aircraft.”
“In the beginning we will
produce 15 aircraft annually and their number will increase to 30 in a year ‑
this programme will be carried out in phases,” he said.
He said first squadron of these
highest quality fighter jets would be inducted in the PAF’s fleet by mid of this
year as PAF has already been using 8 jointly produced aircraft for the last
couple of years.
This fleet would be raised in
Peshawar, he added.
About the delivery of AWACS
system to Pakistan, he said that agreement had already been reached with a
Chinese firm which would start its delivery by 2010.
On the delivery of first AWACS
system Pakistan would pay 10 % cost of the aircraft while the rest would be paid
on easy installments basis, he said.
Answering a question, he said
the agreement between Pakistan and China for the delivery of High‑Tech aircraft
J‑10 was intact and these aircraft after improving them further would be
delivered to PAF in 2014‑15. He said these aircraft are being modernized in
accordance with the PAF’s requirements and delivered under the title of FC‑20.
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President CATIC MA Zhiping told
the media “first aircraft under this agreement would fly in the Pakistani air
during this year.”
He said the joint venture
between CATIC and PAF will go a long way forward in the aviation history.
Ambassador of China to Pakistan
LUO Zhaohui said the JF‑17 fighter jet is another milestone achieved in
furthering the bilateral relations between the nations of Pakistan and China.
“It is a big day for both the
countries,” he said.
He made special mention of
Pakistan’s support to China on different issues of world repute and said the
whole Chinese nation is thankful and mindful of Pakistan’s support.
“We are cooperating in every
sector and this speaks our deepest rooted friendship and bonds,” he said.
The JF‑17 Project is a unique
programme in the sense that it distinguishes the Pakistan Air Force from any
other Air Forces of the world as a manufacturer of fighter aircraft.
The JF‑17 aircraft has been
specifically designed to meet the operation requirements of Pakistan Air Force.
Apart from becoming the mainstay of PAF’s air operations in the near future, the
JF‑17 Thunder aircraft re‑assures abilities to gain self‑reliance and offers an
excellent opportunity for laying the foundations of an advanced and offers an
excellent opportunity for laying the foundations of an advanced aviation
industry in Pakistan.
The JF‑17 Thunder
co‑development and co‑production programme was formally launched in 1998. Major
mile‑stones of the project for development and production of the aircraft were
divided in three stages.
The detailed design of the
aircraft was finalized in September, 2001 and the first prototype aircraft flew
its maiden flight in a record short time of two years. the second prototype flew
in April, 2004 and subsequently, two additional flying prototypes of the JF‑17
aircraft were also manufactured in the following years to conduct flight testing
of JF‑17 aircraft.
Following the successful
progress of flight trails on prototype JF‑17 aircraft, eight Small Batch
Production aircraft were manufactured in year‑2007, which were subjected to
extensive flight testing and evaluation in the last two years in Pakistan.
This activity helped PAF in
maturing the design of JF‑17 Thunder aircraft.
The experience gained on these
aircraft has been extremely encouraging and it is a matter of great satisfaction
for us that we are now progressing to the serial production phase of JF‑17
aircraft with full confidence.
In serial Production Phase,
qualified JF‑17 aircraft will be produced in PAC Kamra for induction in Pakistan
Air Force where they will be fully utilized in various combat roles. This would
not only help Pakistan Air Force in fulfilling its operational requirements at
affordable costs but also ensure readily available and continued technical and
logistic support for these aircraft through out their life cycle.
JF‑17 Thunder Project is an
outcome of the vision, friendship and mutual cooperation between the friendly
countries of Pakistan and China. The Project has now moved out of ‘development
and testing’ phase to the full operationalisation phase.
The journey to this stage has
been arduous and challenging: however, this has only been possible through the
persistent hard work and dedication of designers, engineers, pilots and
programme managers of Pakistan Air Force alongwith Chinese partners, and above
all the blessings of Almighty Allah.
In the shape of JF‑17 Thunder
aircraft, PAF is proceeding to have a modern fighter aircraft with
state‑of‑the‑art avionics and weapons that offers multi‑ role day and night
precision attack capability to defend our motherland againstany aggression.
