New fighter jet: JF-17 Thunder targets new markets

DUBAI: Pakistan is pitching its new JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, developed jointly with China, at an aggressive discount to dominant Western rivals, the defense minister said on Sunday. “You can buy three of our aircraft for one F-16,” Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told Reuters at the Dubai Air Show, where the aircraft is being displayed. He said that the producer, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, was not able to keep pace with the requirements of the air force. “Three squadrons are already flying the aircraft in Pakistan and one in China,” he added. Analysts expect the aircraft, priced at $25-30 million, to be focused on Asian and Africa. “Going to the (European) market is not easy because you are cutting others’ profits,” Mukhtar said. He said the development of the aircraft was not targeted at India. “India need not worry – it’s not India-specific. We are building very close relations with India.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th,  2011.