The Roar of JF-17 Thunder

November 23, 2009 is a red letter day for Pakistan and its air force since on this auspicious day, the hard work of its engineers, technicians, pilots and the prayers of the nation are being rewarded as Pakistan joins the august group of nations capable of building their own fighter aircraft as the first JF-17 Thunder aircraft manufactured in Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra rolls out.
The importance of air power has been fully demonstrated to the world in the various world wars, skirmishes and battles as well as the ongoing war against terror. The use of air power was demonstrated by the almighty Himself as a lesson to mankind. In the year 570 of the Christian era that blissfully happened to be the year of the birth our Master-May peace of the Allah and Blessing be upon him and his progeny-Abraha, the Abyssinian potentate of the Yemen invaded Makkah.
The invading horde had a mammoth-called Mahm'd by the S'rah writers-elephant that created such panic among the Makkans that they fled from the city and, in the words of "Abd" al-Muttalib the Makkan Chief, "Left the House of Allah in Allah's care". What happened to the invading force and their Mammoth is best narrated in the S'rah named after the elephant, Al-fil, which reads in "Allama Yusuf Ali's English translation:
Seest thou not
How they Lord dealt
With the Companions
Of the Elephant
Did He not make
Their treacherous plan
Go astray?
And He sent against them
Flights of Birds,
Striking them with stones
Of baked clay.
Then did He make them
Like an empty field
Of stalks and straw,
(Of which the corn)
Has been eaten up.
(105: 1-5)
The flabby, slow-moving elephant represents the brutish brawn while the small, slick, sparrow flitting over the field packing up its nourishment from tiny pieces of grain and chirping all the while in merriment symbolises the quick brain collecting its data to feed back the plan of action. And we know that it is always the brain (sparrow) that vanquishes the brawn (elephant).
In the Second World War, after one thousand three hundred and sixty-nine years, the Quranic prophecy of the ultimate superiority of Air Power - the "the Tayran ?b?1 "-was fulfilled in a convincing manner. All that is well-know and needs no repetition here.
Pentagons of all the Western powers had learned their lesson from this Armageddon very well. How well, was vividly demonstrated in the Kosovo War that was won against a ruthless, relentless and resilient enemy entirely by the Air Power without a single combatant from the Land and Naval forces. It was simply unbelievable and the sceptic analysts continued to shake their expert heads in disbelief till the last moment.
Pakistan Air Force has had a humble start. It received a handful of aircraft as its share at the time of partition and those too in a dilapidated condition. PAF was put to test at the very outset with the Kashmir War of 1948, in which its Transport aircraft participated in logistic support to the forces in the Kashmir valley. It goes to the credit of the fledling air force that it received the first Sitare-e-Jurat for the Armed Forces, sixty-one years ago, when on November 4, 1948 Flying Officer Mukhtar Ahmad Dogar, operating a defenceless Dakota in the valleys of Kashmir was attacked by two Indian Air Force (IAF) Tempest fighter aircraft and ordered to surrender and land at Srinagar.
Though unarmed and unable to retaliate, the undaunted pilot refused to capitulate and despite being fired upon, he evaded capture and brought the aircraft back safely, thus setting the pace for future generations of air warriors. Pakistan Air Force has always operated against its adversary with a disadvantage in the strategic balance of numbers and hi-tech aircraft, which it has offset by its hard training, undaunted prowess and professional competence. Be it the 1965 and 1971 Pakistan-India Wars, the operations against the Soviet and Afghan air forces circa 1979-1989, the Kargil Operations or the stand-offs in 2001-2002 and the Saber rattling by IAF in the aftermath of the recent Mumbai attacks.
One factor that has been detrimental Pakistan Air Force in rising to its optimum potential is the sanctions by the west and embargoes on its acquisition of defence equipments. Perhaps it was this adversity that brought out the best in whetting its appetite for indigenous production. In the 1880s, PAF envisaged designing and building its own fighter aircraft to meet its future requirements. A brief glance at this effort revels that the US group, M/s Northrop Grumman was approached for the initial design; later, Chinese assistance was sought.
The project commenced under the name of Saber II, a follow up of the venerable F-86 Saber, which had served the PAF well in 1965 and 1971 wars. Due to heavy investment, long time required to produce our own aircraft and easy availability of fighter aircraft off the shelf, the Saber II project was not pursued vigorously. In 1990, sanctions were imposed on Pakistan under Pressler Amendment, which adversely affected PAF. The follow on orders for F-16s were help up and the Saber II project died.
At that critical juncture, PAF neither had experience nor knowledge to design or produce fighter aircraft. Moreover, Pakistan did not have the infrastructure or industrial capacity to produce fighter aircraft. PAF therefore approached its all-weather friend, China for joint development of a fighter aircraft. China extended help and the Super 7 project commenced, which was later designated as the JF-17 project.
In 1998, the JF-17 development was declared a project of national importance and an MOU with China was signed for co-development of the fighter aircraft. In 1999, a formal contract was signed. Meanwhile, PAF sent its aircrew, engineers and technicians to study abroad so as to have credible human resource that could undertake the task of developing a fighter aircraft. In 2002, late Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir rationalised and froze PAF requirements.
Thereafter within 30 months, history was made and the first prototype JF-17 flew in September 2003 in China. The small batch production contract for 8 aircraft was signed with China in December 2006. In 2007, two aircraft arrived in Pakistan and made a debut on 23rd March, 2007 Pakistan Day Fly-past, thundering over the skies of the capital, Islamabad.
By June 2008, the remaining six aircraft arrived in Pakistan that were put to extensive flight testing and evaluation, which not only provided experience to the aircrew but was also instrumental in exposing our technicians to JF-17 specific maintenance practices. Serial production of the aircraft started at PAC Kamra on 30 June, 2009. Presently, about 20% of the aircraft is being manufactured in Pakistan. By 40th aircraft, as much as 58% of the manufacturing share of whole aircraft would be achieved at PAC Kamra. China provided extensive help at every stage of project, and supported it both technically and as well as financially.
JF-17 Thunder is a low cost, light weight, modern multi role fighter aircraft. It has a maximum speed of Mach 1.6 with high thrust to weight ratio. The aircraft is capable of striking at long distances and is well suited to undertake a broad spectrum of offensive and defensive mission. JF-17 is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics which enables it to carryout all weather operations and attack capability. Integrated Avionic suit of JF-17 aircraft will provide high degree of survivability in intense threat environment.
The aircraft can carry a variety of Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground munitions and has the capability to deliver Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) which makes it a suitable platform for COIN (Counter Insurgency) Operations. To date PAF's F-16s and Mirages have been bearing the brunt of the COIN Operations and JF-17 will provide a welcome addition to take up cudgels for fighting the fleeting enemy. Eventually PAF plans to replace its ageing fleet of Mirages, F-7 and A-5 aircraft with JF-17s and make it the mainstay of PAF.
It goes to the credit of PAF that it is the only air force in the world which took on the challenge of participating in designing and developing a fighter; whereas air forces around the world usually give their requirement and the aviation industry undertakes the development. Its arch rival in the region, India, boasts of a robust military industrial complex, however, its Lights Combat Aircraft (LC) project Tejas which is not only way behind schedule but exorbitantly beyond its budget and may be scrapped after suffering huge losses. Meanwhile a number of other air forces have expressed their interest in the acquisition of JF-17, thus it has good export potential.
Successive Air Chiefs, after the sad demise of Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir kept the JF-17 project on track. Air Chief Marshals Kaleem Saadat, Tanvir Mahmood Ahmad and the present incumbent Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman have not only extended priority to the project but also provided it the necessary impetus to ensure its timely fruition.
Any reference to JF-17 would be incomplete without a mention of the Aviation Industries of China, especially M/s CATIC - the company that co-developed the aircraft and the astute and reliable Government of the Peoples' Republic of China, for their vision and whole-hearted support both technically as well as financially for the project.
As the first locally produced JF-17 joins the ranks of PAF, the people of Pakistan deserve kudos since the project brings a cheer to them as a source of pride in the ingenuity, resourcefulness and determination of its planners and executors. Detractors of Pakistan, who had the temerity of writing off Pakistan as a failing state, should only look at the JF-17 project to eat a humble pie. The roar of JF-17 should drown their spells of doom and gloom.