JF-17 at Farnborough International Airshow 2010
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ASIA PACIFIC
Date Posted: 23-Jul-2010
Jane's Defence Weekly
Farnborough 2010: Pakistan increases autonomy in production of JF-17 Thunder aircraft
Reuben F Johnson JDW Correspondent - Farnborough
Two Pakistan Air Force (PAF) JF-17 Thunder aircraft were displayed at the Farnborough International Airshow, marking the first appearance by that platform at any Western airshow. The aircraft were developed and built at China's Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) Aircraft Plant 132 in Sichuan Province under the FC-1 designator.
The rebranding of the design as the JF-17 is intended to convey the message that the programme is a co-operative effort between CAC and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra.
However, the PAF and other senior technical personnel from the PAC have emphasised that "we are doing almost everything by ourselves now" and that where, at one time, assistance from the Chinese would have been required to integrate third-party onboard systems, "we are now able to complete this kind of work without the assistance of the Chinese".
PAC officials told Jane's there has been considerable investment made in the PAC in order to support a full-spectrum capability to not only support the production of the JF-17, but also the manufacturing of its major onboard subsystems. The construction of additional facilities to support JF-17 production has resulted in the creation of four factories at the Kamra site facility that go far beyond its original capacity as just a [commercial] maintenance, repair and overhaul.
The JF-17 programme is run by a PAF management team headed by Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Arif. Speaking to Jane's , AVM Arif said the team of engineers and designers supporting the JF-17 have proficiency with more than just the Chinese-designed hardware that constitutes the aircraft's configuration at present.
The concept for the JF-17 is to use it as a basic platform that can be exported to multiple countries and to fit it with whatever set of onboard systems a customer would prefer. "We have learnt how to integrate different avionics and weapon systems on to the JF-17," AVM Arif said. "There is still active interest in having the set of French-made hardware for the aircraft - the Thales RC400 radar and the MBDA air-to-air missiles - that have been under discussion for some time now."
The integration of third-party, non-Chinese equipment onto the aircraft is an option that would primarily be at the request of an export customer. The PAC programme managers are satisfied with the aircraft's hardware and state that the JF-17's avionics fit and glass cockpit are superior to the older-model F-16A/B Block 15 aircraft that the PAF acquired in the 1980s.
One of the systems the PAC designers give full marks to is the CETC/NRIET KLJ-7 radar set. A PAC programme officer told Jane's : "I have flown with this radar and with other models that we have looked at fitting to this aircraft, such as the Thales RC400, and the Chinese radar is every bit as capable as its contemporary analogues." He added that the performance of the CETC KG300G electronic warfare pod was effective and that "there will be an upgraded version available within a year-and-a-half".
One of the central question marks on the programme has been the aircraft's Russian-designed-and-built Klimov RD-93 jet engine, which is produced by the Chernyshev plant in Moscow.
Just prior to the Farnborough Airshow, the Moscow newspaper Kommersant reported that Mikhail Pogosian, the general director for Sukhoi and RSK-MiG, had written an official letter to the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Co-operation (FSVTS), which regulates all exports of military-related items, and the Russian state arms export monopoly, Rosoboronexport, asking that the next tranche of 100 RD-93 engines to be shipped to CAC in Chengdu be cancelled.
The RD-93 is a specially configured variant of the MiG-29's RD-33, optimised for a single-engine aircraft. This version of the engine was originally conceived in the early 1990s as an option for upgrading older-model MiG-21 aircraft. A similar model of the engine, the SMR-95, was also developed in the same timeframe for use in the South African Mirage F1 and Cheetah D-2 aircraft. In both configurations, the gearbox and other components of the accessory pack are rotated from the top - where they are positioned on the standard RD-33 - to the bottom of the engine casing.
Pogosian is reportedly requesting a halt to deliveries of the engine to CAC on the grounds that the re-export of the engine, once installed in the FC-1/JF-17, damages the interests of MiG in several markets. Negotiations for a MiG-29 purchase are supposedly ongoing in some of the same nations - Egypt, Algeria, Bangladesh and Nigeria - that have also been approached by the JF-17 sales team. For the moment, the contract for the export of these next 100 engines remains unsigned.
[COLOR="DarkRed"]AVM Arif told Jane's that "if the Russians decide to cut off shipments of the RD-93 to us, then we still have other options. One of those is a Chinese-made WS-13 engine, which was certified by the Chinese in 2007 and has been in low-rate initial production since 2009. Pakistan industry officials confirm that it is currently undergoing flight tests on an FC-1 aircraft from CAC. Its thrust rating in the present version is almost 10 per cent higher than the RD-93 and an increased/enhanced performance engine version of up to 10 metric tonnes is in development.
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When asked about the WS-13, AVM Arif stated that "the Chinese engine needs time to mature and might not be available for five years or more". However, one of his deputies said privately that the air vice marshal was giving the "worst case scenario and being a bit cautious". The WS-13, they say, could be ready for use with the JF-17 as soon as two years from now.
The JF-17 has also completed trials of dropping of unguided bombs and firings of the Luoyang Electro-Optical Technology Development Center (LOEC) Pi Li PL-5EII infrared air-to-air missile. The LOEC Shan Dian-10 (SD-10), an active radar-homing air-to-air missile, is currently undergoing integration and will be finished with its demonstration firing before the end of the year.
"The biggest plus for the JF-17 is the cost-performance ratio, which is exceptionally good considering what you get at this price," said AVM Arif. The long-term Pakistani plan is to have a high-low mix of fighters with the newer-model F-16C/D Block 52+ aircraft they are receiving from the US as the upper tier and the JF-17 on the lower tier.
One of the Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft seen at the Farnborough International Airshow. (IHS Jane's/Patrick Allen)Jakarta, July 21, 2010: Pakistan has offered to cooperate with Indonesia in manufacturing JF-17 war planes, the South Asian country`s defense minister said here.
"We offer cooperation to produce JF-17 fighter planes jointly with Indonesia. We already have a similar cooperation with China," Pakistan`s Federal Minister of Defense Chaudry Ahmad said here Wednesday.
After signing a defense cooperation agreement with his Indonesian counterpart, Minister Ahmad said Pakistan had established cooperation in defense industry with several countries, including China.
In addition to joint production of JF-17s, Pakistan also offered Indonesia cooperation in patrol boat industry.
In response to the offers, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said his ministry would study Pakistan`s offer to produce JF-17 fighters jointly.
He said Pakistan and China already had an agreement for joint production of the JF-17.
"Their joint production venture has already agreed to produce 500 units - 350 for Pakistan and the rest for China. JF-17 is the 4+ generation of jet fighter which is more sophisticated than the Sukhois and F-16s that we have," Minister Yusgiantoro said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said the two nations would discuss the possibility of the joint production of JF-17 and patrol boats after reaching a joint production agreement.
"When the agreement is reached next October, we will then take stock of the things that we both can do. But, Indonesia has so far bought ammunition on a large scale. So, it will be too early for us to just jump into an agreement," he said.
Azerbaijan and Zimbabwe have placed orders for the Pakistani-Chinese jointly produced JF-17 fighters, while other countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Malaysia had shown interest in the jet fighters. -
Interesting pictures. Got walk around?
The air inlet looks really small.
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what's the big deal ?
looks like from the 1970's leh................
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China Pitches Engine Deal to Russia
FARNBOROUGH, England - Chinese aerospace officials have grown so confident of their manufacturing ability that they have offered to help Russia boost the power of its fighter jet engines to increase sales.
Discussing the Russian-built RD-93 engine at the Farnborough Air Show, Ma Zhiping, president of the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corp. (CATIC), said Chinese know-how could help add some needed thrust.
"I hope to get to 9,000 kilograms with our help," he said. "If we can do that, we will help sales."
Ma was speaking as two Chinese-designed JF-17s made their first-ever appearance at the air show here. Flown by the Pakistan Air Force and built with the help of Pakistani industry, the jet is powered by the RD-93 engine, sold to China by Russia's Chernyshyov Machine-building Enterprise.
The arrival of the JF-17 jets was enough to set tongues wagging about China's increasingly assertive profile as a fighter builder. But Ma's desire to improve on Russian technology reflects China's aspirations to global power status.
His views were even more notable as they came in the wake of demands by Sukhoi and MiG chief Mikhail Pogosyan to block sales of 100 RD-93 engines to China as exports of the JF-17 could hamper Russia's attempts to export its own fighters. China has built the $20 million JF-17 as an export-only jet.
Pogosyan also suggested last week that a new fighter China has just test-flown is no more than a copy of the Sukhoi Su-33.
His request to block engine exports to China was, however, given short shrift here by Alexander Mikheyev, deputy head of Russian defense export agency Rosobo-ronexport, who said Russian jets have nothing to fear.
"Rosoboronexport continues implementing the contract for the delivery of RD-93 engines to China," he said. "The tactical-technical characteristics of Chinese aircraft are far behind those of Russian MiG and Sukhoi aircraft."
Turning to China's sale of Russian-powered JF-17s to Pakistan, Mikheyev added, "deliveries of Chinese fighter jets to Pakistan are not creating competition for Russia because Russia does not supply weapons to that country."
Shrugging off Mikheyev's views of Chinese fighters, Ma is undertaking an aggressive JF-17 export campaign and ordering engines from Moscow accordingly. After purchasing 100 engines five years ago, China wants to sign for another 100 by the end of the year or soon after - the order that Pogosyan objected to.
"The first 100 bought were to supply the Pakistan order or other countries from a list of six or seven African and Asian nations, which we supplied to Russia," Ma said.
"Last week, CATIC officials went to Moscow to discuss the second order of 100, and there were no problems with the same list of export targets applying. Now we are discussing expanding that list."
Should sales of the JF-17 prompt Moscow to reconsider its verdict of Chinese fighters and block RD-93 sales, China is meanwhile planning its own reportedly more powerful replacement engine, the WS-13.
But Ma said he prefers to stick with the Russian engine, if it remains available. "I think the RD-93 is a one-off option for the JF-17, but if they stop, we must rethink," he said.
Asked if he would seek Russian collaboration on the WS-13, Ma said, "we had discussions, but I prefer to work with them on the RD-93, taking on overhaul capabilities, and I hope to go to 9,000 kilograms with our help."
At Farnborough, CATIC shared a chalet with the Pakistan Air Force and joined officers on the flight line to show off the JF-17. Sixteen of the aircraft, originally produced by Chengdu Aerospace, have been delivered following assembly at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, and Pakistan is eyeing the possibility of exporting the aircraft itself as it ramps up its involvement in production.
After signing for a first order of 50 aircraft, the Air Force now aims to sign for a second batch of 50 by next June, said Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Arif, the Pakistan Air Force's chief project director for the JF-17.
"The governments of Russia, China and Pakistan have no issues about using Russian engines for the first and second blocks," he said.
Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, head of the Pakistan Air Force, said he does not rule out using the Chinese WS-13 engine should it become available.
The JF-17 sports a mix of Chinese- and Pakistani-assembled systems and weapons, "and we will continue with this approach for the time being," Qamar said.
Officials reportedly consider the aircraft's Chinese-built KLJ-7 radar, which offers dual tracking, superior to the widely used U.S. APG-66 originally developed for the F-16. Developed by China's Nanjing Research Institute of Electronic Technology, the KLJ-7 can spot targets out to 70 kilometers, enough to cover the aircraft's Chinese SD-10 air-to-air missiles.
Last year, French company ATE Group was in negotiations with Pakistan for a more advanced avionics suite for the second block of JF-17s.
"Right now, we are happy with the Chinese-Pakistani avionics, but we are looking around," Arif said.
Officials from Italy's Finmeccanica stopped by to discuss avionics with the Pakistanis during the show. "We will evaluate whatever they offer," Arif said.
While the jet is fitted with a Chinese PL-5 air-to-air missile, Denel of South Africa has hoped to sell the Air Force its A-Darter missile, but Arif was noncommittal.
"Is the Denel ready? Only then can tests be carried out," he said.
"My customer has the right to make choices," CATIC's Ma said, "but I hope they use 100 percent Chinese equipment." Ë
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Wendell Minnick in Taipei and Usman Ansari in Islamabad contributed to this report.
