Jf-17 Shooting a Bandit

Made this one quite a long time back, but didnt post it then, as i wanted to experiment different things . I need much to learn to make a believable air to air shooting scenario. But as of yet , this is it . Ill post more of the same soon .

Shown here a Pakistan Airforce Jf-17 on Combat air Patrol , over fictional Lahore, shooting down an intruder, the Indian Airforce Light Combat Aircraft . 

Pakistan Airforce and Egyptian Airforce Jf-17 Block 2 Joint Exercise over Pyramids

Fictional Joint Aerial Exercise between Pakistan Airforce and Egyptian Airforce Jf-17 Block 2  over the Egyptian Pyramids of Giza . The Egyptian Jf17 , i ve drawn here in EAF's high visibility camo, their early F-16 A wear . Could have used the recent one , but this looks cooler . Though its similarity to a target drone like USAF QF-4 Phantom jets is also startling .

Why Egypt use such high visibility camo for its fighter jets ?

Indian Perspective on China's Export Stealth Fighter J-31

Chinese media reports Quoting Chinese military commentator Lei Ze mentioned how emergence of the Chinese fifth generation J-31 fighter jet will make it difficult for the US to export its F-35 fighters , he also said that Currently, the only fifth generation fighter available for sale is the F-35 by the US. The J-31 will offer an alternative for non-traditional allies of the US.”

Indian Defence analysts Vinayak shetty thinks otherwise and says that it is unlikely that J-31 will affect export sale of F-35, “Many countries are firmly behind F-35 Project, even when Prices have surged upwards recently but it is unlikely any of the current customers will even consider buying Chinese J-31 even if aircraft hits production now” . While J-31 is still in testing phase and good 7 to 8 years before enters production, while F-35 is all set to enter fully fledged Mass production soon.

J-31 Stealth Fighter

While analysts say the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) might be one of the earliest customers of the fighter aircraft, but Vinayak shetty believes it will not be easy for PAF to procure these fighters, PAF are already struggling to buy hand full of J-10 fighters for last few years, even with Soft Loan offer provided by Chinese. PAF on other hand in past were always reluctant to operate twin engine fighter aircraft of medium capability size due to higher operating cost involved.

With No 5th generation fighter aircraft Project coming out of Europe many of these countries will be F-35 operators, and Russian Pak-Fa will capture export orders from traditional Sukhoi 30 / Mig operators in Asia. Traditional Chinese fighter aircraft market (Africa / Asian) countries will struggle to operate 5th generation fighter aircraft, so it will be very difficult for Chinese to push sales in their traditional market and difficult to break into American traditional partners, unless sale is bogged down by Us Export restrictions.

Vinayak shetty also have raised concern about a potential arms race in Asia due to emergence of Chinese J-31, many countries that are neighbours of China and have some unsolved issues with them, might now consider buying expensive F-35 or Pak-fa actually boosting their sales in return.

Currently many countries are also working on their own 5th generation fighter aircraft projects other than Russian, Us and China. India is working on Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft, Japanese on Mitsubishi ATD-X , Turkey on TFX and Russia again on single engine cheaper stealth fighter aircraft based on Mikoyan LMFS , which all might actually eat into J-31 export orders .

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

Iranian Airforce IRIAF JF-17 Thunder Block II

Officials from Argentine aerospace company Fabrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) told IHS Jane's at the 2013 Paris Air Show they have had multiple discussions with Chinese officials over potential co-production of the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) FC-1/JF-17 multirole combat aircraft.

I meant Iran . yeah .
Read more: http://www.terminalx.org/2013/06/argentine-officials-confirm-joint-production-talks-over-china-fc1-fighter.html#ixzz2ir2an7kd

PAF Black Spiders JF-17 formation over Smugli

A four ship JF-17 formation over Desert in Smugli .

Four PAF No. 26 squadron Black Spiders JF-17 thunders flying in a close formation over Smugli Quetta.

Chengdu J-10 in Paf colors

Chengdu J-10 in Paf colors.

In late-February 2006, the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, toured the J-10 and JF-17 production facilities during which the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) was offered the J-10,^[18] and the purchase of 36 J-10s was approved on 12 April 2006. The J-10s would be modified to Pakistani requirements, and would equip PAF squadrons quantity around 150 to 200 from 2014–2015 and be known as the FC-20.

500th Serial Production Jf-17 in Special Marking v1.2

v1.2 0f earlier photo here.

This JFT is painted in special markings to commemorate the 500th production plane from PAC Kamra, also paying homage to Baba Quaid e Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, also known as "J-the Mystery Man", whose vision led to the carving of Pakistan on the face of the sub-continent, which then led to co-operation between Pakistan and China and ultimately to Jf-17 Thunder project .

Also Note the paisa theme . Baba ji has been cropped from Rs. 500 Pakistani Ruppee Note and on Tires This Jf-17 has 1 Rupee like rims.

500th Serial Production Jf-17 in Special Marking Photo

This JFT is painted in special markings to commemorate the 500th production plane from PAC Kamra, also paying homage to Baba Quaid e Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, also known as "J-the Mystery Man", whose vision led to the carving of Pakistan on the face of the sub-continent, which then led to co-operation between Pakistan and China and ultimately to Jf-17 Thunder project .

Baba G zindabaaaaad....... !

JF-17 B and MiG-25 : Hi, we are twins

Inspired from Mig-25 double seater, Jf-17

MiG-25 double seater

Indian Air Force MiG-25

JF-17 B and MiG-25 : Hi, we are twins.

JF-17 block 2 With Canards aka Su-30 Mki Killer

JF-17 block 2 With added Canards modification. This is PAF answer to Su-30 Mki . Also known in aviation circles as Mki-ski or Mki-Killer ..

Jf-17 Block 2 : Diamond wing Mod

A Jf-17 Block 2 with Diamond wing Modification found on modern fifth generation aircrafts like F-22A Raptor and T-50 Pakf-Fa.

Pakistan's MMRCA : Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon Or Fc-20

Tweet by Alan Warne :

Once india's MMRCA winner is announced will the losers offer Pakistan with alternatives to the J-10/FC-20? You bet!

As per Indian media reports Dassault Rafale has slight advantage in price, Air to Ground arsenal and AESA radar. If we add this to the fact that Indian air force is already using Dassault Mirage-2000 and seems to be more then happy, Rafale should win Indian MMRCA competition provided Dassault doesn't do its typical marketing job which resulted in introduction of Eurofighter Typhoon in UAE competition which was thought as a done deal for Dassault  .

MMRCA, JF-17 bought by Pakistan could speed up the Indian deal

Aviation week reports that a quick order of JF-17 fighter jets by Pakistan could be the cause of the soudain hurry surrounding the MMRCA deal.

"India wants to expedite the deal in part because Pakistan is expecting a speedy delivery of 50 JF-17 aircraft, which originally were to be spread out over two years, according to defense ministry officials."

Accordind to Aviation weeks, the offset negociations would have already been initiated

“The negotiation for crucial commercial terms will begin next month,” says Michael Christie, senior vice president at BAE Systems India. BAE is part of the Eurofighter consortium, along with Alenia Aeronautica and EADS. 

In the meatime, French Defense Minister Gerard longuet will meet his Indian counterpart, Mr. AK Antony, Thursday 26th. For sure the Rafale proposal and the Mirage 2000 upgrade will be at the heart of the debates. So everything seems to converge toward a quick decision on which fighter (Rafale or Typhoon) will be chosen.. even if the final deal is not expected to be signed before the end of 2011

PAF F-16A clean sweep Typhoon

A special feature posted on the PAF Falcons web site provides a fascinating transcript of a one-on-one interview with an anonymous, although apparently very senior, Pakistani Air Force F-16 pilot. It reminds me of YouTube Terry's infamous indiscretions.

The Pakistani pilot manages to embarrass the pride of the Royal Air Force, candidly describe Israeli air-to-air prowess and explain how the US keeps the F-16 Block 52's secrets away from the Pakistanis and -- by extension -- the Chinese.

On the RAF Typhoon:

On one occasion - in one of the international Anatolian Eagles - PAF pilots were pitted against RAF Typhoons, a formidable aircraft. There were three set-ups and in all three, we shot down the Typhoons. The RAF pilots were shocked.

Q: Any particular reason for your success?

A: NATO pilots are not that proficient in close-in air-to-air combat. They are trained for BVR engagements and their tactics are based on BVR engagements. These were close-in air combat exercises and we had the upper hand because close-in air combat is drilled into every PAF pilot and this is something we are very good at.

On the Israelis:

Q: What are the Isrealis afraid of?

A: What they fear most is that we might learn about their tactics, especially BVR countermeasure tactics, which they have mastered.

Q: I heard a rumour that the TuAF once gave PAF pilots the opportunity to fly with and against the Israelis in A. TuAF F-16s pretending to be Turkish pilots - even letting them sit in the Turkish-Israeli ACMI de-briefs?

A: No comments.

On US concerns about the Chinese:

To recall an interesting little story: soon after the first F-16s were delivered to Pakistan in the mid-80s, the PLAAF Chief visited Sargodha. The Americans were there as well. As a gesture of courtesy, the PAF showed the PLAAF Chief one of the F-16s and let him sit in the cockpit. Some US technicians were there looking on. As soon as the PLAAF Chief sat in the F-16 cockpit, the first thing he did was to start measuring the HUD with his fingers, you know, when you extend your little finger and thumb to measure something? This worried the Americans.

On US export control practices:

They have ways of keeping an eye on the Block 52s without being personally present. The main concern is the transfer of cutting-edge technology - the avionics and radar, the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) the Sniper pod. They have put digital seals all the sensitive technologies, which can only be opened via a code, which only they know. If there is a malfunction or these parts need to be serviced, they will be taken out of the Block 52s and shipped back to the US for repairs/servicing. If we try to pry open these systems without the codes, inbuilt alarms will be relayed to the Americans, which will be a breach of the contract.

Q: Will the Americans be able to track the locations of the Block 52s through some sort of tracking devices hidden inside the aircraft?

A: If there are tracking devices then they will be inside the sealed systems, like the avionics suites or the sniper pods because we will not have the ability to look inside. If their Predator and Reaper drones are transmitting their GPS locations via satellite so can a Block 52 F-16.

Even though Turkey produces the F-16, there are some components that are manufactured in the US and only come to Turkey for the final assembly. In one incident, a Turkish Block 50 crashed and the pilot was killed. They salvaged the wreckage and laid it out in hanger and started putting together the pieces to find out the cause. They found a piece of sealed equipment which had cracked open and inside they found some device that looked like a bug. Upon inquiry, it turned out to be a tracking device.

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.