Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Tariq Majid visited Chengdu to see the progress of work on Pakistan-China co-production of JF 17 Thunder aircraft for Pakistan Air Force.
The project was contracted in April 1999 for joint development and co-production of a state of the art combat aircraft by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra, said an ISPR press release. With joint efforts of the Chinese and Pakistani engineers, work on the project started in 2002 and the first proto-type aircraft made its maiden flight in 2003, which is called a miracle in aircraft development.
The first batch of two aircraft participated in the fly past on March 23rd Joint Services Parade in 2007 and a batch of 8 aircraft is now being flown for extensive user trials in Pakistan since March 2008. These aircrafts have already made more than 1000 sorties.
On arrival at Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC), Vice President of CAC Wang Guang Ya, Vice President of China AeroTechnology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC) Ma Zhi Ping, Air Commodore Junaid K Rehan, Chief Representative Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan's Counsel General in Chengdu Masood Khan accorded warm welcome to the CJCSC and gave a detailed briefing on the pace of work besides conducting his visit to the aircraft production facility.
While appreciating progress of the project General Tariq said that co production of JF 17 Thunder aircraft is a significant milestone of Pak-China strategic co-operative partnership, which on completion will become the main strength of Pakistan Air Force and will replace its ageing medium technology fleet of Mirages, F-6 and F-7 fighter aircrafts. In the evening, Commander of Xingiang Area Command hosted a banquet in honour of the CJCSC and his delegation at Urmiqi.