PAC JF-17 Thunder 2003

Information

The PAC JF-17 Thunder (Urdu: جے ایف-17 گرج‎), or CAC FC-1 Xiaolong (pinyin: Xiāo Lóng; lit. ‘Fierce Dragon’), is a low-cost, low-maintenance, lightweight, single-engine, fourth-generation multi-role combat aircraft designed, developed, and produced jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China. It was designed to replace the A-5C, F-7P/PG, Mirage III, and Mirage V combat aircraft in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), and other third-generation combat aircraft in operation around the world. The JF-17 can be used for multiple roles, including combat air patrol, air escort, interception, ground attack, close air support, anti-ship, and aerial reconnaissance. Its designation “JF-17” by Pakistan is short for “Joint Fighter-17”, while the designation and name “FC-1 Xiaolong” by China means “Fighter China-1 Fierce Dragon”.

The JF-17 can deploy diverse ordnance, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, including anti-ship missiles, and a 23 mm GSh-23-2 twin-barrel autocannon. Powered by a Guizhou WS-13 or Klimov RD-93 afterburning turbofan, it has a top speed of Mach 1.6. The JF-17 is the backbone and workhorse of the PAF, complementing the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon at half the cost. The JF-17 was inducted in the PAF in February 2010.

58% of the JF-17 airframe, including its front fuselage, wings, and vertical stablizer, is produced in Pakistan, whereas 42% is produced in China, with the final assembly taking place in Pakistan. In 2015, Pakistan produced 16 JF-17s. As of 2016, PAC has the capacity to produce 20 JF-17s annually. By April 2017, PAC had manufactured 70 Block 1 aircraft and 33 Block 2 aircraft for the PAF.

By 2016, PAF JF-17s had accumulated over 19,000 hours of operational flight.

In 2017, PAC/CAC began developing a dual-seat variant known as the JF-17B for enhanced operational capability, conversion training, and lead-in fighter training. The JF-17B Block 2 variant went into serial production at PAC in 2018 and 26 aircraft were delivered to the PAF by December 2020.

In December 2020, PAC began serial production of a technologically more advanced Block 3 version of the aircraft with improved radar and avionics, a more powerful engine, electronic countermeasures, and enhanced weapons capability.

PAF JF-17s have seen military action, both air-to-air and air-to-ground, including bombing terrorist positions in North Waziristan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border during anti-terror operations in 2014 and 2017 using both guided and unguided munitions, shooting down an intruding Iranian military drone near the Pakistan-Iran Border in Balochistan in 2017, and seeing both air-to-air and air-to-ground action during the 2019 Jammu and Kashmir airstrikes against the Indian Air Force and Indian Army positions on the Line of Control in Kashmir in which two JF-17s, each armed with two Mk-83 general-purpose bombs fitted with Range Extension Kits (REKs), targetted Indian Army positions.