Chinese designed JF-17 thunder proves to be a bandar for pakistan
Around 24 years back In 1999, Beijing and Islamabad had signed the deal on joint production of the JF-17. Both countries had boasted that it was a combat jet comparable to Indian Su-30MKI, MiG-29 and Mirage-2000. By now the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has found out that the Chinese fighter is nowhere near the boastful claims, instead has proved to be like most other things a Chinese made junk.
Pakistani leaders and PAF Marshals had expected a low-cost, lightweight, all-weather multi-role fighter, something to beat the Su-30MKI and the Mirage-2000 with the IAF but the reality fell well short of their high hopes. Thunder the Bandar cannot compete with even Kiran Mk2 of the IAF.
Apart from the Ejection seat, the main bug bear is the Chinese made RD 93 engines. After several attempts made by the Chinese Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology to fix the Russian RD-93 engines still it couldn’t do so.
According to the agreement signed between Beijing and Islamabad for the JF-17, Pakistan was allowed to obtain engines and spare parts from Russia only through the mediation of China. Due to the numerous breakdowns of the Chinese fighter, Pakistan had applied directly to Moscow for the purchase of new RD-93 engines, avoiding the intermediation of China. Russia also wanted to send the RD-93 engines, as well as spare parts and maintenance, but US sanctions against Russia’s defence export agency, the Rosoboron export, caused further complications for the Pakistan Air Force.
In the 1990s, the main customers of Chinese fighters were Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, North Korea, and some African countries. This is also true today, reported Difesa Online. For decades, China’s growth as a fighter aircraft exporting power seemed unstoppable.
Although according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s arms transfers database, between 2000 and 2020, China exported only USD 7.2 billion worth of military aircraft, Chinese fighter jets are still being sold within their relatively small target market. Recently, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia have shown their interest as possible buyers of the JF-17 fighter. They refuse to learn from the ordeals of PAF.
Chinese-developed jet JF-17 has become not only a total embarrassment for Pakistan due to numerous malfunctions of the Russian RD-93 engines, but has also become a safety hazard. However despite this, a few countries caught in the debt trap of China have shown “interest “ in the jet.
PAF has recently released images of new mass-produced JF-17 Thunder (Block III). The new version is hoped to be a radical departure from the clunky earlier JF-17 models, yet questions hang over the extent of its supposed upgrades.
