24/02/2024
Azerbaijan 🇦🇿 and Pakistan 🇵🇰 have signed a government-to-government agreement for the sale of an advanced military system, the JF-17 Thunder Block III aerial combat system, associated weapons and other equipment.
The sale is for an approximate cost estimated to between one billion and one billion six hundred million USD.
The Government of Azerbaijan explored multiple options since early 2021 for its Air Force to acquire a modern fighter jet in order to gain next-generation air combat capability in a fast-evolving and volatility-potent regional and international security environment.
The Azerbaijani Air Forces (currently operating the Su-25 attack aircraft and the MiG-29 multirole aircraft) initially considered the Sukhoi Su-35 and/or the Mikoyan MiG-35 but did not proceed past preliminary stages of negotiations due to issues with the aircraft’s operating cost and the lifetime cost of operations, in addition to an unsatisfactory fleet availability rate and a troubled spare parts supply-chain.
The Russian-made fighter aircraft options both had huge costs and were maintainance-heavy, and what they provided in terms of modern air warfare was mediocre and would not be a generational leap in air warfare capabilities.
The Azerbaijani Air Forces and Air Defense Troops’ service leadership had finalised the Block III iterative variant of Pakistan’s Thunder program’s JF-17 combat system as their next generation multirole fighter by late 2022 or early 2023.
In early 2023 the Azerbaijani Government and Defence Ministry began official negotiations with the Pakistani Government, military leadership and the Ministries of Defence and Defence Production.
The formal contract for the official sale order was signed between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan in January 2024.
The CAS, being the principal uniformed authority from the Pakistani side during negotiations, was vital in actualising even more Pakistani defence contracts by securing the entire weapon’s package of the combat aircraft to be Pakistani-made, plus other technical and operational system specifications that were unique to Azerbaijan. Also worth mention are the personal efforts of the COAS, vitally responsible for the coordination between government departments, agencies and ministries in a caretaker government which may have pushed the production back by several months, as well as decisions on mutually-agreed aspects for alternative financing of the acquisition including options of a commercial state-conducted commodity exchange. Deliberations were also needed on the regional political and military considerations and the wider international-scale potential implications of the Pakistani sale of an advanced weapon system to a nation located in the Caucasus, with known strategic importance and conflict zones of disputed nature along its borders, located crucially at the area dividing the European and Asian continents. All these complex decisions were crucial in securing the billion-dollar sale agreement for Pakistan.
The following is a description of the JF-17 Thunder’s Block III variant in both English:
The Pakistan Aeronautical Complex’s JF-17C Block III is a major iterative upgrade to the lightweight multirole single engine combat fighter aircraft. It features new systems such as a 1000+ TRM AESA main air-intercept radar the KLJ-7A with a 150-220 km detection range (for objects with smaller fighter-sized RCS), a newer and more powerful standard engine option with 20% more thrust, a next generation wide-angle holographic heads-up display also used in the J-20 stealth fighter, a highly-advanced and powerful electronic warfare and electronic support measures suite, a new helmet-mounted-display and cueing system for guidance and combat operations especially for WVR aerial contacts using high off-boresight missiles (the same HMDCS used in the J-20 stealth fighter), an advanced multi-spectrum, multi-sensor, full-coverage IR and UV missile approach warning system with active and passive detection for searching and awareness of the target situation, sensor fusion architecture providing pilot with mission-critical data and the combat management systems with enhanced detection and intelligence capabilities, superior survivability inside the contemporary aerial battlefield even in heavily-contested and threat-saturated airspaces by utilising zero radar-frequency-emissions sensors for target search and detection, and in some cases even tracking (using external electro-optical sensors) to achieve superior situational awareness, new very long range air to air missiles, newer and better weapons integration of all types, a better 3-axis multi-redundant FBW system with active safety features, integrated, networked and data-linked aerial operations capabilities, a newer cockpit system for the pilot’s ease of operations, an increased MTOW and load-carrying capacity and more hardpoints for weapons among many other upgrades.
The upgraded lightweight fighter boasts an MTOW of almost 30,000 lbs, more use of composite materials for lighter weight of the aircraft structure, an external weapons capacity of 10,700 lbs, a combat range of 1450 km, a ferry range of 2500 km, a top speed of Mach 1.7 and a service ceiling of 56,000 feet.
The fighter comes with an array of next-generation weapons that cover every domain of modern air warfare: with the combination of the most advanced and longest range air to air missile on Earth today with the PL-15, or its the export equivalent Pakistani FA’AZ II, with a WVR missile that is fatally-capable of sustained gravitational force with supersonic manoeuvring in over 90° angles with the PL-10 HOBS, with a high-performance AESA radar, and an aggressively high-performance electronic warfare suite your national airspace is now under your control, owned decisively by the JF-17, able to challenge, contest and win every battle, every time, against every opponent and target.
JF-17C loadouts easily fulfil multirole mission requirements for example a single sortie store may include six air to air missiles plus four 500 lbs-class precision munitions plus an external pod (SPJ/EO-IR) while still leaving room for a large-volume fuel tank. Aerial refuelling is also standard in the Block III.
The contract for these 12 units of the JF-17C/D Thunder Block III was already awarded to the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex last year and now the production serials have officially designated them as Azerbaijani Thunders.
At the PAC’s Aircraft Manufacturing Factory in Kamra, the assembly line for these units had already begun some months ago and the first few of these fighters for the Azerbaijani Air Force are currently on the PAC-AMF production line located in Punjab, as we speak.
The first batch for Azerbaijan’s Air Force, most probably consisting of JF-17D Block III Thunders and possibly at least one JF-17C, will be ready for delivery by the end of this year.
The Azerbaijan Air Force’s order for 12 units constitutes one squadron in their air combat structure which will now be the frontline combat asset of Azerbaijan’s air force and air defence and provide the first line of defence as well as the first strike of offensive action, if required, to the brotherly and allied country.
Credits: Pakistan strategic forum
