It is for the first time that a senior government functionary has confirmed talks with China over purchase of the longer-range stealth aircraft — an issue that has been a subject of speculation in defence circles since the 10th edition of the Zhuhai Air Show (China) held earlier this month, when the aircraft was unveiled.
The FC-31 is being developed by China primarily for the export market. Chinese officials claim that several countries have expressed interest in the aircraft believed to be comparable to US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
What particularly interests the PAF is that FC-31 prototype (J-31) and JF-17 use the same Russian Klimov RD-93 engines.
China and Pakistan had earlier co-produced JF-17 Thunder. Pakistan has been eagerly trying to market this fighter aircraft.
Pakistan, which is at present producing Block-2 of JF-17 at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra, is eyeing orders from countries in the Middle East and Africa.
dawn.com
Well, First: Stealth is Fifth Generation as the F-35 and F-22 fighters are.
ReplyDeleteSecond: It was revealing to see the Chinese Airshow demonstration with all the smoke coming out the back of those engines during flight demonstration. Lack of technical maturity on the engines part was self-evident. The bottom line message of this demonstration was "if you want to die, all you have to do is advance the throttles."
Third: The Pakistanis will be sorry if they invest in this fighter.