PAC JF-17 Thunder

History

The JF-17 "Urdu" ("Thunder") - also known as the FC-1 Xiaolong "Fierce Dragon" - is a multi-purpose aircraft jointly developed by China's Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAIC) and China. Purpose light fighter platform. The United States is developing the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) to produce a low-cost, light multirole fighter jet using the latest avionics and weapons packages available at the former. By this time, the Pakistan Air Force had used several Cold War-era aircraft of Chinese origin, but the battlefield capabilities of these systems had reached their peak.

This prompted the Pakistani side to find a new solution focused on domestic production.

As many of the more advanced and modern 4th generation fighter jets available at the time proved to be far beyond the available budget, a joint development effort was initiated to produce a semi-native Pakistani fighter jet. Pakistan provided the formal requirements and determination, while China provided the means and years of experience locally adapting/producing Soviet/Russian technology.

This allows the JF-17/FC-1 to date back to the Soviet-era Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 "fish bed" from which Chinese industry developed on many levels.

Ordnance options available to the aircraft include air-to-air weapon systems, including the U.S. AIM-9L/M Sidewinder family of short-range missiles. Likewise, the PL-5E and PL-9C expand the selection of short-range missiles. Supported BVR missiles include the PL-12 (exported as "SD-10").

Air-to-surface weapon options include mainstream missiles, guided bombs, conventionally thrown bombs, and missile pods. Guided munition options include the Ra'ad ALCM cruise missile, the French AM-39 Flying Fish anti-ship missile, and the MAR-1 anti-radiation missile (the latter designed to directly counter ground-based radar threats). Precision drop bombs came in the form of the GBU-10, GBU-12 and LT-2 laser-guided bombs. In addition, H-2, H-4 electro-optical guided bombs and LS-6 satellite-guided bombs can be used.

The JF-17/FC-1 has been approved for use in the US Mk-82 and Mk-84 unguided throwing bombs and the CBU-100/Mk 20 "Rockeye" armor-piercing cluster bomb.

Of course, this weapon choice is not a limitation, as any operator can equip the JF-17/FC-1 to his liking, whether of American, Israeli, French, British or Russian origin.

While Pakistan is the main operator of the JF-17/FC-1 series, the Myanmar Air Force has committed to build 16 (becoming Thunder's first export customer). By the end of 2018, six JF-17Ms had been delivered. The Nigerian Air Force has invested in three of its own aircraft.

As of February 2010, the Pakistan Air Force had at least 14 JF-17 operational prototypes, including the 36th Tactical Assault Squadron at Peshawar Air Force Base. These Thunders were subsequently owned by the 26th Squadron known as the "Black Spiders".

While China is the main developer of the JF-17/FC-1, it is likely that the country will not procure the aircraft for its own service as other more advanced designs are in the pipeline. As we all know, the FC-1 has cleared the acquisition hurdle at the end of 2009, which seems to indicate that the Xiaolong will arm the PLA Air Force in the near future, but this is not the case.

It's also worth noting that the FC-1 was tested in November 2012 with a Chinese homegrown engine, the WS-13 series Guizhou turbofan, with no results, at least locally.

The initial success of the JF-17 has increased global interest in joint China-Pakistan products due to its display at the Pakistan military exhibition. Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe have expressed interest in the relatively new fighter jet, and other interested parties mentioned in the conversation were Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria and Sudan, where the 4th, 5th and 5th generation fighter jets are generally inexpensive.

Can not afford.

For the Pakistan Air Force, the JF-17 has been relocated to accommodate aging French Dassault Mirage fighter-bombers and Chinese-built J-7 and A-5 (Chinese MiG-19) fighter-bombers. The advanced multi-role nature of the JF-17 means that several different outbound aircraft types can be replaced by a single JF-17.

The JF-17 can also be paired with another Chinese-derived fighter jet, the Chengdu J-10 Raptor (detailed elsewhere on this site) in the Pakistan Air Force's inventory, and may be sold to Pakistan in the future.

By the end of 2013, about 58 production-grade JF-17s had been delivered to Pakistan, and to date (2019) over 100 of the model have been built, many of which are in Pakistani factories. The Block 1 aircraft represents the original 2006 production form, originating from a Chinese factory. The Block 2 model appeared in late 2013 and added air-to-air refueling capability through the probe. In addition, avionics were further developed to accommodate larger war loads. The proposed Block 3 program includes support for a helmet-mounted display (HMD) system, a new instrument panel, and an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar unit on the nose.

The JF-17B is a two-seat version used for training missions. The model first aired in April 2017.

PAC JF-17 Thunder Spec

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes