Shenyang FC-31 / J-31 Fighter Demonstrator
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asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Supposedly 601 is working on a 3rd type of stealth aircraft, this is according to air international
The type according to the Air International report is the export version of the J-21/31 !
Many Countries Express Interest in JF-17 Thunder
May 26, 2013
Many countries around the world are keen in obtaining JF-17 Thunder fighter jet jointly developed by Pakistan and China, said a senior officer of the Pakistan air force. “We’ve been receiving inquiries and expressions of interest on the JF-17 Thunder from many countries in the Middle East, Africa and even as far as South America,” Air Marshal Sohail Gul Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, told China Daily. Pakistan has the privileged to show case the fighter plane twice in China’s bi-annual International Airshow held in Zhuhai.
The JF-17 Thunder – or the FC-1 Fierce Dragon as it’s known in China - is a third-generation multipurpose combat jet co-developed by Aviation Industry Corp of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, the leading aviation company in Pakistan, which is in charge of manufacturing and maintaining the Pakistan Air Force’s aircraft.
Some of the inquiries were “very serious”, he said.
“During my trips to many countries, almost everyone I’ve met asked me about the plane and many countries said they want to join the project,” Khan said.
The JF-17 is an “extremely capable aircraft” and its maneuverability and avionics are excellent, he added.
Air Vice-Marshal Javaid Ahmed, chief director of the JF-17 project, echoed that view.
“The JF-17 is one of our top lightweight fighters, comparable to any advanced aircraft in the Pakistan Air Force.”
Khan said the JF-17 project is a living example of the positive cooperation between the Pakistani and Chinese aviation industries, and that the achievements the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex has made over the past 40 years should be largely attributed to its cooperation with the Chinese aviation industry.
The complex has already produced more than 40 JF-17s, he noted, adding that the cooperation project between China and Pakistan on the aircraft is still under way with technicians from both nations focusing on the upgrading of weapons and avionics.
In addition, Khan said that the Pakistan Air Force has also been eyeing other Chinese military planes and may take part in the development of other aircraft in the future.
His remarks came one day after six JF-17 Thunder fighter jets escorted the Boeing 747 that transported Premier Li Keqiang when it entered Pakistani airspace. Li started his two-day visit to Islamabad on Wednesday.
After China Central Television broadcast footage of the JF-17s escorting Li’s plane and of the pr
emier waving to Pakistani pilots, many Chinese netizens said in online comments that the selection of the JF-17 Thunder symbolizes the two nations’ close relationship in the defense sector.
“It’s a great honor for us that our JF-17s were selected to welcome Chinese Premier Li Keqiang,” Wing Commander Ronald Afzal, who leads the Pakistan Air Force’s 16th Squadron, which is equipped with JF-17s, told China Daily in a phone interview. He led and took part in the escort operation, which lasted 17 minutes.
“We handpicked the best pilots in my squadron and started intensive training on escort formation at high altitudes and fly-past operations at high speeds as well as at very low altitudes – about 500 feet (152 meters) – one week ago when we were informed that the squadron would escort Li’s aircraft,” Afzal said.
“My fellow pilots were very proud and excited that we were given this opportunity to escort the Chinese premier and present to him the best image of our air force,” he added.
Their pride is also shared by the aircraft’s Chinese developers.
“As the developers, we feel pretty privileged to see our planes undertake such an honorable mission and believe that the Pakistan Air Force chose the JF-17 to welcome our premier partly because it has a lot of Chinese elements,” said Yang Wei, the chief designer of the aircraft at the Aviation Industry Corp of China.
Yang’s team will join hands with their Pakistani counterparts to develop future versions of the JF-17, gradually providing the aircraft with partial stealth and aerial refueling capabilities, he said.
paksoldiers.com /pakistan-air-force/many-countries-express-interest-in-jf-17-thunder/
May 26, 2013
Many countries around the world are keen in obtaining JF-17 Thunder fighter jet jointly developed by Pakistan and China, said a senior officer of the Pakistan air force. “We’ve been receiving inquiries and expressions of interest on the JF-17 Thunder from many countries in the Middle East, Africa and even as far as South America,” Air Marshal Sohail Gul Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, told China Daily. Pakistan has the privileged to show case the fighter plane twice in China’s bi-annual International Airshow held in Zhuhai.
The JF-17 Thunder – or the FC-1 Fierce Dragon as it’s known in China - is a third-generation multipurpose combat jet co-developed by Aviation Industry Corp of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, the leading aviation company in Pakistan, which is in charge of manufacturing and maintaining the Pakistan Air Force’s aircraft.
Some of the inquiries were “very serious”, he said.
“During my trips to many countries, almost everyone I’ve met asked me about the plane and many countries said they want to join the project,” Khan said.
The JF-17 is an “extremely capable aircraft” and its maneuverability and avionics are excellent, he added.
Air Vice-Marshal Javaid Ahmed, chief director of the JF-17 project, echoed that view.
“The JF-17 is one of our top lightweight fighters, comparable to any advanced aircraft in the Pakistan Air Force.”
Khan said the JF-17 project is a living example of the positive cooperation between the Pakistani and Chinese aviation industries, and that the achievements the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex has made over the past 40 years should be largely attributed to its cooperation with the Chinese aviation industry.
The complex has already produced more than 40 JF-17s, he noted, adding that the cooperation project between China and Pakistan on the aircraft is still under way with technicians from both nations focusing on the upgrading of weapons and avionics.
In addition, Khan said that the Pakistan Air Force has also been eyeing other Chinese military planes and may take part in the development of other aircraft in the future.
His remarks came one day after six JF-17 Thunder fighter jets escorted the Boeing 747 that transported Premier Li Keqiang when it entered Pakistani airspace. Li started his two-day visit to Islamabad on Wednesday.
After China Central Television broadcast footage of the JF-17s escorting Li’s plane and of the pr
emier waving to Pakistani pilots, many Chinese netizens said in online comments that the selection of the JF-17 Thunder symbolizes the two nations’ close relationship in the defense sector.
“It’s a great honor for us that our JF-17s were selected to welcome Chinese Premier Li Keqiang,” Wing Commander Ronald Afzal, who leads the Pakistan Air Force’s 16th Squadron, which is equipped with JF-17s, told China Daily in a phone interview. He led and took part in the escort operation, which lasted 17 minutes.
“We handpicked the best pilots in my squadron and started intensive training on escort formation at high altitudes and fly-past operations at high speeds as well as at very low altitudes – about 500 feet (152 meters) – one week ago when we were informed that the squadron would escort Li’s aircraft,” Afzal said.
“My fellow pilots were very proud and excited that we were given this opportunity to escort the Chinese premier and present to him the best image of our air force,” he added.
Their pride is also shared by the aircraft’s Chinese developers.
“As the developers, we feel pretty privileged to see our planes undertake such an honorable mission and believe that the Pakistan Air Force chose the JF-17 to welcome our premier partly because it has a lot of Chinese elements,” said Yang Wei, the chief designer of the aircraft at the Aviation Industry Corp of China.
Yang’s team will join hands with their Pakistani counterparts to develop future versions of the JF-17, gradually providing the aircraft with partial stealth and aerial refueling capabilities, he said.
paksoldiers.com /pakistan-air-force/many-countries-express-interest-in-jf-17-thunder/
I think his bolded part implies potential Pakistani collaboration on the J-21.
Hi to all you guys 2, yes i did meant j-31/f-60
as more and more news is coming its becoming more clear that PAF will get j-31
O.k. .... but to admit:
sounds to me not as a fact but more a wishfull option or a possibility.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Agreed. Personally, I was a little surprised at the tone of that part, as I expected something a little more solid wrt the rumoured PAF J10A/B deal and the input they were supposed to have made to the J10B programme.
As for the J31, well with all due respect, but I don't think Pakistan has the financial muscle to carry the programme to fruition even if they partner up with SAC.
If the PLA does not support the program financially, SAC would likely need to get a consortium of interested foreign buys onboard to jointly fund the development in order to bring the bird to operation privately, which is unlikely tbh. Everyone knows that SAC is second best to CAC, and if anyone was going to fork out billions to participate in a JSF style programme, they would only do so if the very best company in China was involved.
With Pakistan's close cooperation and long history with working with CAC, it is also unlikely that they would jump ship to go with CAC's biggest rival, especially since PAF has never had any previous direct dealings with SAC.
I think the only way we will see the J31 progress beyond prototype stage is if the PLANAF or PLAAF itself gets onboard and funds the programme. Thus, I think any Pakistani involvement in the J31 programme would be limited, and Pakistan would have to wait until the PLA has committed itself to the programme before they would jump onboard.
In terms of the development path for the J31, well I think SAC needs to decide whether to court the Air Force or Navy because it cannot easily satisfy both. The PLAAF is already fully committed to the J20, and with the rumoured JH7B, Next Gen stealth bomber and stealthy strike oriented UCAVs like the Sharp Sword, there really isn't a niche left for the J31.
As such, I believe SAC's best hope is to aggressively and exclusively court the navy. Make the next J31 prototype a carrier borne version and lobby the navy hard for the J31 to become its future carrier born stealth.
With the scale and scope of China's carrier programme, if the navy commits to the J31, that should be enough to make the programme viable and profitable even without export orders. With the navy already relying on SAC for J15s, they already have a foot in the door. The J20 is too big to realistically be adapted for carrier operations, and with F35s coming online with the USN and Japan committed, I don't think the PLAN would be satisfied with relying on the J15.
In terms of the role of the J31 itself, I think SAC should focus on making the J31 and air dominance fighter rather than focus on strike like the F35. With UCAVs like the Sharp Sword now flying, and the X47 doing carrier trials, the PLAN would likely want to follow suit and by the time the J31 is operational, so would a naval Sharp Sword, which can take on the stealth striker role quite nicely. For anti-shipping work, its not like the J31 is ever going to fit AShMs in its weapons bays, so a J31 has absolutely nothing over a J15 in terms of anti-shipping, so it would just be better to leave the strike roles to the J15 and future UCAVs.
By focusing on sir combat, SAC would have the opportunity to have an unique selling point to differentiate the J31 from the more established F35 beyond merely price, and would have a decent chance of being able to achieve parity or even superiority over the F35 in air combat if the J31 was only concerned with air combat and thus did not have to make the sacrifices the F35 had to accommodate its strike oriented mission and three variants in one airframe complexity. Such a selling point would greatly appeal to the PLAN as well as any potential export customers far more than of the J31 went down the stealth striker path and ended up being seen as a poor man's knock-off F35.
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i agree that j-31 will be a costly program for PAF...but sooner or later PAF will have to choose between j-20 or j-31, cost also depends on the type of avionics package PAF wants, the airframe is flying right now means that a big developmental phase is over, and now its time to test its limits and put avionics in it...
for cooperation with SAC there is always the first time..
j-31 makes alot of sense in PAF especially with the engine commonality with jf-17, but lets wait and see....
even after cabinet approves purchase of 36 fc-20 some years ago...there is still no sign of a contract..may be j-31 was what kept PAF from confirming the order...but again let wait and see
but i dont think that j-31 is a wishlist item for PAF...if required PAF can put money into it..PAKISTAN is not that broke..
besides its much better option to decrease the generation gap between indian airforce and PAF when FGFA is fielded..
for cooperation with SAC there is always the first time..
j-31 makes alot of sense in PAF especially with the engine commonality with jf-17, but lets wait and see....
even after cabinet approves purchase of 36 fc-20 some years ago...there is still no sign of a contract..may be j-31 was what kept PAF from confirming the order...but again let wait and see
but i dont think that j-31 is a wishlist item for PAF...if required PAF can put money into it..PAKISTAN is not that broke..
besides its much better option to decrease the generation gap between indian airforce and PAF when FGFA is fielded..
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