The 'Joint Fighter-17 (JF-17) Thunder', also known as the 'Fighter China-1 (FC-1) Fierce Dragon'
[1] in
China, is a single-seat multirole
fighter aircraft developed by
China and
Pakistan. The first two aircraft were delivered to the
Pakistan Air Force on
2007-03-12.
[2] The JF-17/FC-1 is designed to be a cost-effective plane which can meet the tactical and strategic needs of the
Pakistani Air Force.
Development
The JF-17 is being built by China's
Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) and
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC). The FC-1/JF-17 is derived from the "
Super 7" project, and not the ''Project 33'' ('not' to be confused with the MiG-33) or the failed
Chengdu J-9. But it might be designated J-9 when it enters
PLAAF operational service.
The project is expected to cost about
US$500 million, divided equally between China and Pakistan, while each individual aircraft is expected to have a fly-away cost of US$15-20 million. The JF-17 Thunder development project has been completed in a period of four years.
[3] Pakistan has announced that it will procure 150, but this may easily go up to 300. The JF-17 will replace Pakistan's
MiG-21-derived
Chengdu F-7, Nanchang A-5 (
Q-5) and
Mirage III/V currently in service. Other countries which have expressed interest in purchasing the JF-17 are
Azerbaijan,
Egypt,
Malaysia[4],
Bangladesh,
Nigeria,
Burma,
Zimbabwe,
Morocco and
Algeria.
History
In 1986, China signed an agreement with
Grumman to develop an upgrade for the
J-7 known as the "
Saber II", the replacement of the abandoned "
Super 7" upgrade of
J-7. The program was cancelled in 1990, primarily due to worsening relations with the
U.S. following the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. However, CAC kept the program alive by providing low-level funding from its own resources.
After U.S.
sanctions were imposed on Pakistan in 1990, Pakistan also became interested in the project. In June 1999, during the term of
prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan and China made an agreement to restart the program with Pakistan paying about 50% of the development costs. The project became known as 'JF-17' in Pakistan and 'FC-1' in China.
The first prototype was rolled out on
2003-05-31, conducted its first taxi trials on
July 1, and made its
first flight on
August 25 of the same year. Prototype 03 made its first flight in April 2004. On
2006-04-28, Prototype 04 made its first flight with fully operational
avionics.
Serial production has begun in June 2006, and the first 16 aircraft will be rolled out in early 2007. Serial production during 2007-2008 will be at an annual 10-15 planes per year, while from 2009
+ it will be at 25-30 planes per year.
The
President of Pakistan,
Pervez Musharraf, declared in his
Independence Day speech on
2006-08-14 that the JF-17 will be flying in Pakistani skies by
2007-03-23. The first 2 JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft were delivered to
Pakistan Air Force on
2007-03-12 while the remainder of the first batch of 8 aircraft will arrive later in the same year
[2]. The JF-17 Thunder aircraft had its first public appearance in Islamabad, on March 23, 2007 during a fly-past performance in the Pakistan Day Joint Services Parade in
Islamabad.
[6]
Two PAF JF-17s flying at the Pakistan Day parade March 23, 2007
On
2007-03-31,
Pakistan Air Force Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal
Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed said, "PAF would soon induct fourth and fifth generation high-tech fleet of fighter-bomber aircraft with the aim to modernize the country’s air force which includes the induction of 10 to 12 squadrons of
JF-17 Thunder aircraft." He also said, during this year, six more JF-17 aircraft would be received from China, as in 2008 the serial production of the aircraft would commence at
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra, Pakistan. The PAF Chief said, 15 aircraft would be manufactured in 2008, while 20 in the next year with the aim to achieve capability to manufacture 25 to 30 aircraft per year, also hinting the PAF was set to acquire up to 250
JF-17 Thunder aircraft.
[7] [8]
The Prime Minister of Pakistan
Shaukat Aziz in a recent press conference held in
Islamabad,
Pakistan after the visit of China termed the project as JF-17 was “Pakistan’s proud programme and a unique example of cooperation and friendship between the two countries”. He also said that serial production of JF-17 Thunder aircraft would soon start next year and Pakistan would like to sell fourth generation JF-17 Multirole Aircraft to those interested. The Prime Minister also confirmed that JF-17 Thunder aircraft in Pakistan had also completed 500
sorties.
[9]
Design characteristics
Looking at the status of the
development's work, the '4
th prototype version' of the JF-17 Thunder combat jet has successfully completed its first operational flight in
Chengdu,
China, on Wednesday,
2006-03-10.
[10] The 4
th prototype of the JF-17 Thunder combat jet is configured as a multi-role
fighter-bomber and is capable of carrying multiple
air-to-air and
air-to-ground weapons. The fighter jet is equipped with advanced
electronics and
weapons systems.
Pakistan received the first
consignment of 2 aircraft on
2007-03-23, while the
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in
Kamra will start
manufacturing the JF-17 in 2008. China will start official production in June 2007.
'4
th prototype version' is said to be redesigned with
F-35 JSF style
Divertless Supersonic Intakes (DSIs) being the most notable feature; according to Lockheed Martin, DSIs are more
stealthy than other conventional air intakes as well as DSIs also divert turbulent boundary-layer
airflow away from the engine inlet
[11][12]
At the 6
th Zhuhai Airshow in China, a Unit Training Device (UTD) appearing identical to the earlier
mockup of the JF-17 was publicly displayed, and the manufacturer of the aircraft, along with other manufacturers of airborne weaponry, provided more detailed information on the projects:
Avionics
The 4
th prototype includes advanced
avionics features such as:
Cockpit
★ Advanced 4.5
th generation
EFIS with
cockpit displays that are compatible with western systems such as those built by
Rockwell Collins and
Honeywell.
★
★ The current
MIL-STD-1553B data bus can be readily replaced by
MIL-STD-1773 fiber optics data bus upon customer's request.
★
★ The
control panel consists of only 3
multi-function displays.
★
★ All information is processed and displayed on them.
★
★ The functions of each screen are exchangeable.
★
★ Brightness and contrast can be adjusted either automatically or manually.
★
★ Displays can also be adjusted to be compatible with
night vision goggles.
★
★ Each screen can be re-defined individually.
★
★
HUD is a
state-of-the-art system developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC).
★
★ Many images/information can be displayed at the same time.
★
★ In mid-2007, Chinese state-run television station
CCTV-7 aired the latest information on the
EFIS of JF-17 with most conventional analogue dial indicators eliminated:
★
★
★ It is revealed that the EFIS of JF-17 is consisted of three large rectangular shaped color
MFDs that appeared to be
LCD. The MFD in the middle is in a lower position than the two on the side. Unlike most MFD with width greater than height, all MFDs on JF-17 appear to be rotated 90 degrees, i.e. with height much greater than width. A digital moving map display in Chinese is shown on the MFD to the right. However, other languages are also available, but it can be concluded for sure that English is definitely the dominant language.
★
★
★ There is a monochrome up front control panel (UFCP) directly under the
HUD, above the MFD in the middle. Control buttons are arranged to the left and the right sides of the UFCP, while there are three lines of display similar to that of civilian hand-held scientific calculators in the center, providing information such as dates in English. It appears that the displays of UFCP can only display information in English.
★
★ All
HUD and head-down displays are compatible with the standard electro-optical targeting pod that is carried externally.
★
HOTAS control.
★ Intelligent
avionics.
★
★ Avionics system is all-digital and fully integrated.
★
★
Distributed structure with open architecture.
★
★
★ Two independent but exchangeable (can backup each other)
STD-MTL-1553B data buses connect all equipment, plus two powerful control
computers (that can also backup each other).
★
★
★ Each computer controls one data bus.
★
★
★ The seat is inclined more than the standard 13/14 degrees.
[13]
Radar
Several radars have been tested onboard prototypes of JF-17 and the final version is still yet to be determined, and these include:
★ Israeli
Elta 'EL/M-2032' radar: Two delivered to China before the sales stopped under US pressure. At least one was installed on the first Chinese prototypes for test and evaluation. There are unconfirmed reports that at least one unit was lost when a prototype crashed.
★ Russian
Phazotron 'Super Komar' radar: This is a development of 'Komar (Gnat)' radar Russian offered to upgrade
Q-5 and
J-7. The 'Komar (Gnat)' itself, is a development of
Phazotron 'Kopyo (Spear)' radar offered for
MiG-21-93/98, with newer electronics to drastically reduce the weight by more than a third, from the original 125
kg of Kopyo (Spear) to 80
kg. With the exception of the sector of scan is increased to +/- 60 degrees from the original +/- 40 degrees of Kopyo (Spear), all of the rest of performance parameters of Komar (Gnat) remained the same as that of Kopyo (Spear). 'Super Komar' radar has improved capability than Komar (Gnat) in that instead of being able to simultaneously track 8 targets and engage 2 of the tracked like Komar (Gnat) and Kopyo (Spear), it can simultaneously track 10 targets and engage 4 of the tracked. It is reported, however, despite successful tests, the radar was eventually rejected by both China and Pakistan, because the 60/40
km tracking/engagement range of 'Super Komar' radar was simply too short, and this was the reason why no more follow-up orders were placed.
★ Italian FIAR 'Grifo-S7' radar: Unlike the Russian 'Super Komar', the Italian radar lacks the capability of multi-targets tracking and engagement via
semi-active radar homing air-to-air missiles. However, it has higher MTBF than the Russian radar, up to more than 220 hours. Furthermore, the
ISO-9002 certified radar and electronics manufacturing facility at
Kamra of the
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex already had vast experience in license assembly / production of earlier Italian FIAR Grifo series radars for
F-7MP/P/PG, and the Italian radar would have advantage over its competitors should assembly / production licenses be granted like it had been done earlier.
★ It is reported (to be confirmed) that a Chinese radar of unknown designation has been offered for the production version of JF-17, and the Chinese offer had some key
advantages over the Italian one, such as
compatibility with Chinese weapon systems.
★
★ Radar has strong
ECCM capacity and multiple
modes, such as A2A (both
BVR & close),
air-to-ground, air-to-sea, terrain avoidance, etc. Terrain following mode is not standard, but can be added upon customer's request by either incorporating an external pod such as the Chinese Blue Sky navigational and targeting pods, or alternatively, the direct integration of the radar itself.
★
★ It can simultaneously detect 40
+ targets, simultaneously track 10 of 40 detected targets, and simultaneously engage 2 of the 10 tracked targets by guiding 2 semi-active radar homing BVR missiles to attack two separate targets. Alternatively, two missiles can be fired at the same target to raise the kill probability.
★
★ When active radar homing
air-to-air missiles are used, the number of targets that can be simultaneously engaged are increased to 4.
★
★ The detection range for a typical air target of
RC 3 m² is 125
+ km; looking downrange is 45
+ km; range for sea target is 250
+ km.
★
★ When engaging land targets, the Chinese radar can lock on to individual vehicle like American radars do, instead of only being able to lock on to a large group of vehicles like the
Russian
Phazotron 'Kopyo' (
Spear) radar onboard
MiG-21-93.
★
★ Easy to access
LRUs with fully digitized solid state electronics and built-in self test functions.
★
★ Plenty of room for improvement is incorporated in the design so that the current plannar
slotted array can be readily replaced by a passive
phased array.
★
★ Reprogrammable digital processor with open architecture design.
★
★ Option to incorporate IFF.
★
★ The internally mounted electro-optics is not standard for JF-17, but the radar is compatible with them for their rapid integration upon customer's request.
Helmet Mounted Sight (HMS)
Though the exact type of the helmet mounted sights for JF-17 is yet to be determined, the HMS will be standard. JF-17 is compatible with a wide range of HMS, and its HMS will be at least equal or better than the HMS offered for
J-7E/F-7PG, which first appeared in 2002 at air show and various defense / electronics exhibitions such as CIDEX held in China. According to the staff from the developing firms and their advertise at these exhibitions, the HMS offered for
J-7E/F-7PG is already better than the latest Russian HMS available on the export market in that the Chinese HMS is specifically designed to improve the performance of the Russian system, and it outperforms its Russian counterparts including ASP-AVD-21, Shchel series, Sura series in various fields:
★ In comparison to the original standard Russian ASP-PVD-21 HMS onboard the
MiG-29 and
Flanker family, the field of view of the Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG is +/- 90 degrees, which is far greater than the mere +/- 8 degrees of the Russian ASP-PVD-21 HMS.
★ In comparison to the latest Russian HMS available with +/- 60 degrees of field of view, the Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG still enjoys much greater field of view at +/- 90 degrees.
★ The elevation of the latest Russian HMS designed to replace the original ASP-PVD-21 HMS onboard
MiG-29 and
Flanker family is only +/- 40 degrees, while in contrast, the Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG is already +/- 45 degrees.
★ The Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG already had higher reliability than the Russian HMS.
★ The Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG are easier and much cheaper to manufacture than its Russian counterparts.
Although the Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG has already enjoyed numerous advantages over the latest Russian HMS developed later, it still might not be the final type of HMS selected for JF-17, because even as the Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG was first revealed in 2002, the Chinese manufacturers such as the 613th Institute had already started the development of newer HMS designed to replace the HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG. Three major Chinese manufacturers, XBOE, the 613th Institute, and
Luoyang Optoelectro Technology Development Center have already developed a variety of HMS systems with improvements including the adaptation of common attachments and power sources so that all night vision goggles and HMS are interchangeable, without the need to replace the entire system. The weight would be further reduced from the 200 grams weight of the Chinese HMS for
J-7E/F-7PG, while the performance is further increased (mainly in the increase of elevation angles). While it can not be confirmed the claims by various sources that the more advanced Chinese HMS onboard
Chengdu J-10 developed from HMS onboard the
J-7E/F-7PG would be selected for JF-17, the aircraft is certainly compatible with the more advanced Chinese HMS onboard
Chengdu J-10
Electronic warfare
It has all the standard
electronic warfare systems, such as
radar warning receiver, missile approach warning system, etc.
★ The computer can store more than 500 existing
radar signals for
identification, which is around 5 times of that
F-7MP/P, and actually already stores more than 250 known radar signal
patterns.
★ 360-degree
field of view for the missile approach warning system with both
infrared &
ultraviolet spectrum detection.
★
★ Very
sensitive to the "
afterburn" of
missiles.
★
★ The detection range is 60
+ km.
★
★ One detection
sensor is in the
tail and two at the front.
★
★ Moreover, it can provide a certain
capacity of tracking and
positioning of approaching missiles.
★
BM/KG300G Self protection jamming pod.
★
KZ900 Electronic reconnaissance pod.
★
Blue Sky navigation pod: Low altitude navigational and attack pod
★
FILAT Forward-looking Infrared Laser Attack Targeting pod
★ Other targeting pods
Communication
The JF-17 has two
communication radios; one of them has the capacity for
data link to exchange data from either a
ground control center or an
AWACS/
AEW.
The modular design of solid state
avionics has enabled the
data link for the air-to-ground precision guided munitions to be carried internally, thus eliminating the need to carry external
data link pods that are common for current Russian and
Vietnam War era American systems, but this only applies to the radar or
GPS guided
air-to-surface missiles, because for television, infrared, or laser guided munitions, the aircraft lacks built-in electro-optics targeting and weapon control systems, so an external electro-optic targeting pod must be carried such as the Chinese built
Blue Sky.
Engine maintenance
Instead of being required to be sent back to the main overhaul factories in the rear for engine replacements, the aircraft engine can be readily replaced at the forward airbases in field conditions within two hours (one hour forty-five minutes has been achieved), providing the necessary maintenance equipment is all in place.
Ground maintenance equipment
In comparison to Russian ground maintenance equipment for the
Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30, Chinese claim that its indigenously developed ground maintenance equipment of JF-17 offers significant advantages to the current Russian one on the market, and the
PLAAF has already begun to replace Russian ground maintenance equipment for the
Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30 for the following reasons:
★ Like its western counterparts, the Chinese ground maintenance equipment is not limited to serve a single type of aircraft, instead, it is designed to service a wide range of aircraft, including both civilian and military. In comparison, most Russian ground maintenance equipment for the Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30 are purposely built and can only serve the aircraft in the Flanker family.
★ The Chinese ground maintenance equipment utilizes solid state electronics, and has better reliability.
★ The Chinese ground maintenance equipment is based on the commercial off-the-shelf products that greatly reduced the logistic problems due to its commonality with similar commercial equipment available while meeting the military standards at the same time.
★ Due to the adaptation of the commercial off-the-shelf products, the Chinese ground maintenance equipment is cheaper to purchase, and more importantly, cheaper to operate than the specially design Russian ones, which have unit price from at least half a million to more than a million
United States dollars.
★ The Chinese ground maintenance equipment adopts the multi-tasks workstation priniciple of similar American systems, and thus much fewer equipment is needed like the American systems. In comparison, most Russian ground maintenance equipment offered for export for the Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30 is single tasked, thus forcing the buyers to spend more money on puchasing every type in order to meet the complete maintenance requirements.
★ Due to its similar design that follows western systems, the Chinese ground maintenance equipment is compact and can be deployed by air like its western counterparts. In contrast, the Russian ground maintenance equipment for Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30 is bulky and can only be transported on land since it can not fit inside cargo airplanes.
★ The Chinese ground maintenance equipment is versatile like similar western systems in that it can either be truck mounted to increase mobility, or trailer mounted to reduce cost. In contrast, the current Russian ground maintenance equipment on the market for the Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30 only comes in truck mounted form (as of 2006).
★ Instead of being built by a single production complex associated with the aircraft manufacturer like the ground maintenance equipment of the
Flanker family, the complete set of the Chinese ground maintenance equipment is developed by different manufacturers of the similar equipment used for commercial airplanes, so that buyers would have wider choice of suppliers, and would not have to pay higher prices because they would not to be locked into the deal forced up on them by the aircraft manufacturer. The purchasers of the Chinese ground maintenance equipment therefore are open to purchase western components should they choose to, when there are better deals to be found.
★ More importantly, since most of the Chinese ground maintenance equipment is for civilian use, there is far less likelihood of being embargoed like the Russian ground maintenance equipment for the Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30, which is purely for military use.
★ The civilian usage of the the multi-tasked Chinese ground maintenance equipment also means that the equipment can be better utilized for civilian aircraft and thus reducing the cost of operation like similar western systems. In contrast, not only is the Russian counterpart limited to military aircraft, it is also only limited to a single family of military aircraft because many of the single tasked Russian ground maintenance equipment purposely built for Flanker family such as the
Sukhoi Su-30 can only be used for Flankers.
★ Like similar western systems of modular design, the Chinese ground maintenance equipment also has the option of modular design so that when newer subsystems become available, they can be readily incorporated into the system by replacing the older ones on the racks.
Pakistan Air Force JF-17
The first 50 JF-17s entering
Pakistan Air Force (PAF) service will only incorporate Chinese avionics and weapon systems. Subsequent upgrades will be made on PAF JF-17s every five years, planned additions include infra-red search & track (
IRST), in-flight refueling (IFR) and possibly engine change from the Russian RD-93 to Chinese WS-13.
[14][15]
Beyond the initial 50 PAF JF-17s, the remaining may be equipped with European avionics and radars. Pakistan had begun negotiations with British and Italian defence firms over potential avionics and ECM/EW systems for JF-17. In fact, one of the radar options for JF-17 is the Italian Grifo S7.
[16]
The first two have arrived in Pakistan and are part of the initial 150 order. The PAF aims to boost the JF-17 fleet to 200-250.
Weaponry
All
weapon systems are designed to be
compatible with both
Western systems (ie. supporting
MIL-STD-1760 data bus), Chinese systems and Pakistani systems as well.
Air-to-air weaponry
The JF-17 is primarily an export-oriented fighter, thus it can be built according a customer's specifications and use a variety of Chinese and Western weapon systems.
These include air-to-air
Beyond Visual Range missiles (BVRs).
'Non-Chinese Weapons'
★
R-Darter BVR-AAM (Proposed at IDEAS 2006, Karachi, Pakistan)
★
A-Darter WVR-AAM (Proposed at IDEAS 2006, Karachi, Pakistan)
★
IRIS-T WVR-AAM (Proposed at IDEAS 2006, Karachi, Pakistan)
★
AIM-9L/M SidewinderWVR-AAM
★
AIM-7F Sparrow BVR-AAM
★
AIM-120C BVR-AAM
'Chinese Weapons'
The
SD-10 is the primary Beyond Visual Range (BVR) Air-to-Air Missile (AAM) for the JF-17
★
PL-9 for
within visual range combat
★
SD-10 BVRAAM a
Beyond Visual Range missile
Air-to-ground weaponry
In addition to unguided bombs and rockets, the aircraft is adopted to deploy a wide range of precision guided munitions, including:
'Non-Chinese weapons:'
★ DPGM (Precision Guided Bomb) -
Denel (South Africa)
★ Raptor-I precision-guided long-range glide bomb (60 km) - Denel (South Africa)
★ Raptor-II precision-guided long-range glide bomb (120 km) - Denel (South Africa)
★
Anti-ship missile such as
Exocet and
Harpoon missile.
★ Russian KAB series laser guided bombs (these Russian bombs can not be directly mounted onto weaponry pylons like Western or Chinese munitions, instead, additional special adaptation rails are required for JF-17 when using them)
'Indigenous Pakistani Weapons'
★
H-2 Stand-off bomb
★
H-4 Stand-off bomb
★
Ra'ad Stand-off cruise mssile
★
HATF-2 Anti-Runway bomb
'Chinese weapons:'
★
FT (Fei Teng) series of
GPS guided bombs
★
LT (Lei Ting) of laser guided bombs
★
LS (Lei Shi) series of
GPS glide bombs
★
C-101 Supersonic
Anti-ship missile
★
FL-7 Supersonic
Anti-ship missile
★
C-701 Air-to-surface missile
★
TL-10 Anti-ship missile for boats with displacement up to 500 tons
★
TL-6 Anti-ship missile for boats/ships with displacement up to 1,000 tons
★
C-704 Anti-ship missile for ships with displacement up to 3,000-4,000 tons
★
C-801/802 Anti-ship missile for ships with displacement greater than 4,000 tons
All precision guided munitions listed above are either GPS or radar guided, and when the television or laser guided munitions are deployed, addition electro-optical targeting pods such as the Chinese-built
Blue Sky pod must be carried externally in order to provide guidance and targeting information.
Operators
List of customers with confirmed aircraft orders:
★
★
★
Pakistan Air Force - 4 delivered; 150 ordered with plans for an additional 300-400
★
★
★
People's Liberation Army Air Force - 250
+ ordered and in production
★
★
★
Zimbabwe Air Force - 12 ordered in 2004. Yet to be delivered
★
★
★
Azerbaijan Air Force - 26 ordered in 2007. Yet to be delivered
Potential customers
The following air forces have shown interest in the JF-17 Thunder:
★
★
★
Egyptian Air Force
★
★
★
Bangladesh Air Force
★
★
★
Nigerian Air Force
★
★
★
Myanmar Air Force
★
★
★
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
Prototypes and their roles
| 'Designation' | 'Role' |
| Prototype-01 | Flight Performance Verification |
| Prototype-02 | Ground and Load Testing (Static Ground Testing) |
| Prototype-03 | Flight Performance Verification |
| Prototype-04 | Weapons Integration And Avionics Testing |
| Prototype-05 | Fatigue Testing (Static Ground Testing) |
Specifications (JF-17 Thunder)
References
1. Note: The name "Fierce Dragon" is also used by the Chengdu J-10 (F-10 Vanguard)
2. Anon. (12 March,2007) Two JF-17s Delivered to Pakistan. ''GEO News''.
3. Anon. (2003) JF-17 Thunder/FC-1. ''Global Security''.
4. Iqbal, Anwar. (Feb, 2005) Malaysia looks to Pakistan as source of armaments. ''Pakistan Military Consortium''.
5. Anon. (12 March,2007) Two JF-17s Delivered to Pakistan. ''GEO News''.
6. Anon. (24 March, 2007) JF-17 Thunder main focus of attention at Pak Day fly-past. ''Pak Tribune''.
7. Pub. (31 March, 2007) PAF to induct high-tech aircraft in numbers soon; aging fleet to be replaced till 2015: Air Chief. ''APP/Aaj TV News''.
8. Anon. (31 March, 2007) PAF to seek more Chinese aircraft, says air chief. ''The News, Pakistan''.
9. Tariq, Iqbal (23 April, 2007) Pakistan wants to sell JF-17 Multirole Fighter. ''Pakistan Defence''.
10. Anon. (11 May, 2006) 4th Prototype JF-17 Thunder aircraft successfully completed inaugural flight JF-17 Thunder. ''Pak Tribune''.
11. Anon. (12 May, 2006) JF-17 Thunder. ''Pakistan Defence - JF-17 Multirole Aircraft''.
12. Anon. (30 Dec, 2006) FC-1/JF-17 Multirole Fighter Aircraft. ''Sino Defence''.
13. http://grandestrategy.blogspot.com
14. Anon. JF-17 Thunder. ''Pakistan Aeronautical Complex''.
15. Anon. JF-17 Thunder - Specifications. ''Pakistan Aeronautical Complex''.
16. Anon. Italian Grifo family. ''Sensors and Airborne Systems''.
External links
'General information:'
★
JF-17 Thunder
★
Official CAC website
★
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC)
★
JF-17.com
★
JF-17 factsheet, news, pictures updates
★
JF-17/FC-1 by Chinese Defense Today
★
FC-1/Super-7/JF-17 Thunder Dragon at Chinese Military Aviation
★
JF-17/FC-1 at Global Security
★
A Light Sabre For the Third World
'Audio and video footage:'
★
JF-17 Thunder vs. F-16 Fighting Falcon: Turn-Rate Comparison
★
Video of the Fly-past on Pakistan National Day Parade on
YouTube, courtesy Pakistan TV.
★
JF-17 Thunder at Kamra, Pakistan. on
YouTube, courtesy Pakistan TV.
★
Official JF-17 promotional video on
YouTube. A press release showing the JF-17's general capabilities.
★
Pics of JF-17 Thunder in Pakistan
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