China has strengthened its co-operation with Pakistan in the aviation sector, including undertaking joint ventures in aircraft manufacturing. The two sides have maintained close co-operation over the years in order to promote their defence industry.
In this connection, the joint venture for producing JF-17 Thunder aircraft is a major development, official sources said here while talking to APP.
The project is being carried out successfully. While reviewing China's progress in the aviation sector and its co-operation with foreign countries, a senior official of the China Aviation Industry Xu Zhanbin said it had successfully developed the third-generation jet trainer the L15.
The L15 advanced trainer, designed and manufactured by the company's Hongdu Aviation Industry Group, will finish final assembly at the end of this month and make its maiden flight before the end of this year.
The trainer, which can fully meet new training requirements for pilots, will be priced at about $15 million.
This means it will be 20 percent cheaper than similar jets manufactured by foreign companies, he said. It is predicted that global demand for the L15 advanced trainer and similar products such as the Russian-made YAK-130, the American T-38 and the T-50 made in South Korea, will reach several thousand units in the coming two decades.
The L15 trainer will hopefully target the global market after it begins mass production in 2007.
"We will first target those countries, which have built strong ties with us," Xu said.
He said his country had already sold more than 200 K-8 jets, the second-generation trainer, to more than 10 foreign countries, including Pakistan, Myanmar and Zambia.