Dubai Air Show amazed with JF-17 Thunder

ABU DHABI: Outstanding skills of Pakistan’s JF-17 Thunder aircraft won big appreciation by the participants present at the Dubai Air Show.


The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilots of JF-17 Thunder amazed the huge audience including locals and authoritative crowd when the fighter jets demonstrated skills via maneuvering high up on the tail and rolling in air.

Super Mushshak also presented the super aerobatics in the show and won big applauses by the crowd.

Dubai Air Show provided an international platform to at least 200 companies across the Globe willing to exhibit their aviation products and aircrafts.

The PAC JF-17 Thunder, or CAC FC-1 Xiaolong, is a light-weight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Air Force, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and the Chengdu Aircraft Industries Corporation of China.

Pakistan’s Three JF-17 Thunder and Super Mushshak participated in the Dubai Air Show.

The country is expected to export at least five fighter planes as well as getting more orders during the air show.

Egypt in talks with Pakistan for joint production of JF-17 Thunder

Egypt in talks with Pakistan for joint production of JF-17 Thunder

Cairo is in talks with Pakistan to begin joint production of JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft, Jane's understands from Egyptian defence industry sources.Even as the talks continued regarding JF-17 assembly in Egypt, however, the US Department of Defense announced on 2 March that an initial contract worth some USD213 million had been finalised with Lockheed Martin for Egypt's procurement of additional F-16C/D multirole fighters.If the deal for the single-engine JF-17 is approved, Egypt would become the first export client for the aircraft. The Pakistan Air Force formally inducted the type into service in February. While the number of aircraft Egypt plans to acquire has not been revealed, the inclusion of local assembly in the deal suggests that the contract would be for at least 48 JF-17s.

 Arab Security Blog: Egypt in talks with Pakistan for joint production of JF-17 Thunder

Block II JF-17 Thunder To Enter Into Production Next Year

The Pakistan Air Force will start receiving the improved version of the JF-17 Thunder fighter jet Block II. The Block II Thunder will include newer and improved capabilities including data link and electronic warfare capabilities aerial refuelling, new radar & avionics.

 The JF-17 Thunder Block II will also expend its inventory of new generation precision guided weapons including cruise missiles. Pakistan and China are also developing a two-seater version of the JF-17 Thunder.

The deliveries of the Block II Thunder to Pakistan Air Force are scheduled to start from the second half of the 2012 and will continue till 2015. From 2016, JF-17 Thunder Block III will enter into production .

Pakistani Air Chief Marshall Rao Qamar Suleiman has said at the Dubai Air Show, “We offer performance comparable to U.S. and European fighters when it comes to radar, dogfight missile, range and BVR [beyond visual range] capabilities, for one third of the cost.”

The officials of the joint marketing team for the promotion and sale of the JF-17 Thunder has said that at-least five middle eastern countries has shown interest in the JF-17 Thunder and will be test flying the aircraft for in future to experience its performance first hand.

The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) is also evaluating the FC-1/JF-17 Thunder and will take decision regarding its induction into the service in near future.