One of the many companies present at the Dubai Air Show is Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (or PAC), which has a stand where they displayed, among several products, a model of the JF-17 Thunder, so for us it was a “must” stop.
PAC’s sales and marketing director, Commodore Moazzam Piracha agreed to answer some questions for Aviacionline about the prospects of their fighter in Argentina.
I would like to warn you, especially the Argentine public, that there is still no certainty, or even any concrete data indicating that the JF-17 will wear the colors of the Argentine Air Force (FAA) in the short term.
First of all, we talked about the characteristics of the JF-17, especially the Block III currently being manufactured for the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) and offered to Argentina for approximately 50 million dollars per unit, according to the 2022 budget bill presented to the Argentine Congress.
To review the known characteristics of this fighter, you can visit the video we produced about it:
As much of the technical information is considered sensitive and reserved, they did not give us much more data than what was already public knowledge about the block III. But I can tell you 2 interesting details.
On the one hand, for now the Block III will not have an IRST type infrared search and targeting system, as initially suggested. The first 2 prototypes photographed did not carry this equipment and there was nothing to indicate that space had been reserved in front of the pilot’s cockpit to incorporate the IRST at a later date. In any case, this does not preclude future Block III batches from acquiring this capability, but it will definitely not be a system that will equip the first series aircraft.
When asked if the JF-17 Block III will be powered by the new and more powerful Russian RD-93MA engine (modernized version of the RD-93 that equips the current Thunder) or the Chinese Guizhou WS-13, the answer was… neither.
PAC confirmed that for now there are no plans to change the propulsion plant of the JF-17, which will use the same model as the previous Thunder blocks.
On the prospect of selling the JF-17 to the Argentine Air Force, the answer was “we are still negotiating”. PAC’s sales director commented that his company and Pakistan have every intention of reaching an agreement and finalizing the sale, but are still waiting for the Argentine government to make a decision.
Regarding the details of the Sino/Pakistani offer to Argentina and the likely delivery times of the model, PAC declined to comment. Everything is part of the ongoing negotiation and some things can only be thought of in advanced stages prior to the signing of the contract. Although they did clarify that although the model is being manufactured for their Air Force, they would have no problem adjusting the production line to meet a hypothetical contract with the FAA.
When asked “Why would the JF-17 Block III be a good solution for the Argentine Air Force?”, Commodore Moazzam Piracha replied that, on the one hand, it is an aircraft conceived to be acquired, maintained and operated by Air Forces with limited budgets. On the other hand, PAC guarantees the delivery of a modern, capable, combat-proven and unrestricted weapon system.
PAC is the JF-17’s integrator company, which means it can tailor the fighter’s features and equipment to the requirements of the FAA or any customer. It can change equipment that might be vetoed for others of different origin, or integrate diverse systems and armaments, as requested by the customer. If the buyer pays the integration costs, PAC will deliver a JF-17 tailored to his needs, with total freedom of use.
Also present were people from the Chinese conglomerate CATIC, who are leading the negotiations with Argentina for the JF-17, so we visited them to find out if they had anything to add to the information shared by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, but they told us that they have their own press team and do not give interviews to foreign press.
As a last detail revealed, PAC informed that there are currently no ongoing negotiations with Nigeria for the acquisition of more Thunder fighters, in addition to the 3 units already contracted. PAC hopes and expects that this situation will change at some point, while waiting for some sign of interest from the Nigerian government.
