The PAC JF-17 Thunder (Urdu: تھنڈر ), known in China as the Chengdu FC-1 Xiaolong (English: Owlet Dragon [4]; Chinese: 枭龙; pinyin: Xiāo Lóng),[N.B. 1] is a light-weight multi-role combat aircraft jointly developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAC) of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex of Pakistan. The “JF” and “FC” designations stand for “Joint Fighter” (Pakistan) and “Fighter China” (China) respectively.

Originally designed to be a small and capable light-weight fighter powered by a single engine to reduce costs, the JF-17 was supposed to be a simple and inexpensive solution for replacing large fleets of obsolete types in the air forces of developing countries. The JF-17 evolved into a more advanced fighter during the later stages of development with revised terms of reference by the Pakistan Air Force and the incorporation of more modern features and technologies.

The maiden test flight of the first prototype took place during 2003 in China, later test flights of a more advanced version taking place in 2006. The first two pre-production (small batch production, SBP) aircraft were delivered to the Pakistan Air Force on 12 March 2007 for further flight testing and evaluation,also taking part in the aircraft’s first aerial display 11 days later in Islamabad, Pakistan. The first batch of production aircraft is expected to roll out in October 2009. The Pakistan Air Force plans to make the first JF-17 squadron officially operational by the end of 2009.

Development

The JF-17 is being built by China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) and Pakistan’s Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. The project is expected to cost around US$500 million, divided equally between China and Pakistan. The project is supported by China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation for the Chinese side. Each individual aircraft is expected to cost around US$15 million. Initial development of JF-17 is believed to have been completed in a period of four years,although later improvements to the aircraft design did take up more time. Pakistan has announced that it has 150 aircraft on order, but this may well go up to 275. The JF-17 will replace Pakistan’s MiG-21-derived Chengdu F-7, Nanchang A-5 and Dassault Mirage III/Mirage V aircraft currently in service. Azerbaijan, Zimbabwe and eight other countries have expressed interest in purchasing the JF-17 at a recent military exhibition in Pakistan, according to an official.

Origins – Project Sabre II

After a successful deal with China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) in the early 1980s resulting in the Chengdu F-7M Airguard, the United Kingdom offered a further upgrade to improve the performance of the F-7M by adopting either General Electric F404 or Pratt & Whitney PW1120 turbofan engines. The radar options would include the Red Fox, a repackaged version of the Blue Fox radar used on Sea Harrier FRS Mk 1, and the Emerson AN/APG-69. Although radar tests were successful, the upgrade was rejected before any engine tests because both the radar and engine cost more than a new J-7 (2 million 1984 United States Dollars). The name Super-7, however, was to be used again for later projects.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) started looking for a new fighter to replace their large fleet of Shenyang F-6 in the late 1980s. Despite upgrades such as ability to fire the AIM-9 Sidewinder and Martin Baker ejection seats, the F-6 fighters were becoming obsolete and their ageing airframes were approaching the end of their service lives. The PAF initiated Project Sabre II, a programme to re-design the Chengdu F-7 airframe with more modern avionics from the United States.

In January 1987, a contract was awarded to Grumman Aerospace of Bethpage, New York, to study and define the Sabre II concept with cooperation from CAC and PAF specialists. The study was completed after seven months and concluded that the project was a financial risk due to very high costs and other options were much more cost-effective, despite the prospects of producing Sabre II in Pakistan and giving the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex more experience and technical knowledge.

Under Project Sabre II, considered a replacement of the abandoned Super-7 project by the Chinese, the F-7 airframe was redesigned with air intakes on the sides of the fuselage replacing the nose intake. Located behind and below the cockpit, the side-mounted intakes were angled for improved airflow during high angle of attack. The F-7 nose intake was replaced by a solid nose radome, planned to house the General Electric AN/APG-67 radar used on the F-20 Tigershark. An extra hardpoint was added under each wing, inboard of the hardpoints already present, for carrying a pair of AIM-9L air-to-air missiles. The resulting aircraft looked much like the Guizhou JL-9 (or FTC-2000) jet trainer / fighter aircraft.

Project Sabre II was terminated in 1989, due to the breaking of relations between the U.S. and China after the Tiananmen Square protest. The PAF decided on a much less expensive solution for replacement of the F-6, the Chengdu F-7P Skybolt, an upgraded version of the F-7M Airguard. The F-7P fleet was to be supported by a fleet of over 100 advanced F-16 Fighting Falcons from the United States, 40 of which had been delivered during the 1980s.

Continuation – FC-1/Super 7

CAC continued further studies into Project Sabre II by providing low-level funding from its own resources. Sabre II/Super 7 was further modified with the delta wings of the F-7 replaced by new wings of cropped-delta planform, featuring a pair of hardpoints on the wing-tips and leading edge root extensions blending the wings, side-mounted air intakes and fuselage. In 1991, the FC (Fighter China) programme was launched and Super 7 was re-branded as the FC-1.

Meanwhile, the U.S. was becoming frustrated with Pakistan’s refusal to stop its nuclear weapons development programme, resulting in the imposition of military and economic sanctions under the Pressler amendment in 1990. This prevented the delivery of the advanced F-16 fighters and efforts by the PAF to find a replacement failed (see Pakistan Air Force 1990-2001, the lost decade). Requiring a more capable and modern fighter to replace its fleet of F-7P, A-5C and Mirage III/V,the PAF high command debated joining the continued Super 7/FC-1 project until 1995, when a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with China for the two parties to cooperate on development of the fighter. Pakistan and China worked out the project details over the next few years. In June 1995 it was reported that Mikoyan MAPO had joined CAC on the project to provide design support, believed to be using experience from their “Izdeliye 33″ (English: “Project 33″) design, a small single-engine fighter similar to the FC-1/Super 7.

In October 1995 it was reported that Pakistan was to select a Western company by the end of the year which would provide and integrate the avionics for FC-1, which was expected to go into production by 1999. The avionics were stated to include radar, INS, HUD and MFD. Competing for the contracts were Thomson-CSF with a variant of the RDY radar, Sagem with avionics similar to those used in the ROSE upgrade programme and GEC-Marconi with the new Blue Hawk radar, but FIAR (now SELEX Galileo) was expected to win the radar contract with the Grifo S7 because the PAF had already upgraded F-7 and Mirage III fighters with the Grifo 7 and Grifo M3 radars.

After a period of little activity, a letter of intent (LOI) covering airframe development was signed in Beijing by Pakistan and China in mid-February 1998. Russia’s Klimov was reported to be offering a variant of the RD-33 turbofan engine to power the fighter and a mock-up of the cockpit was put on display at the Singapore air show.

In June 1999 the contract to co-develop and produce the Chengdu FC-1/Super 7 was signed during a visit to Beijing by then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif and Chinese premier Zhu Rongji. The project was to be a 50-50 partnership with the air forces of both Pakistan and China being committed to ordering the fighter. Avionics suites were being proposed by FIAR and Thomson-CSF, based on the Grifo S7 and RC400 radars respectively, after GEC-Marconi had abandoned the bidding to supply an integrated avionics suite including INS, MFD, HUD and mission computer, despite previously hoping to use the PAF’s Super 7 to launch its new Blue Hawk radar. Design work progressed very slowly over the next 18 months due to sanctions, placed on Pakistan after the country’s May 1998 nuclear tests, preventing delivery of the advanced Western avionics systems to the PAF.

In early 2001, however, a major decision was taken by the PAF to de-couple the platform (airframe) from the avionics systems, enabling design work on the aircraft to continue. An added advantage would be that as the platform was developed, any new avionics requirements by the PAF could easily be catered for, not easily possible had the aircraft been designed for late-1990s era avionics. Prototype production began in September 2002 and a full size mock-up of the FC-1/Super 7 was displayed at Airshow China in November 2002. The first batch of Klimov RD-93 turbofan engines that would power the prototypes was also delivered in 2002.

Flight testing and re-design – FC-1/JF-17

The first prototype, PT-01, was rolled out on 31 May 2003 and transferred to the Chengdu Flight Test Centre by June 2003 to be prepared for the maiden flight. This was initially planned to take place in June but was delayed due to concerns about the SARS outbreak.The designation Super-7 was replaced by “JF-17″ (Joint Fighter-17) at some point during this period. Low speed taxiing trials began at Wenjiang Airport in Chengdu on 27 June 2003.The maiden flight took place in late August 2003, but the actual date is unclear. Some sources report it took place on 24 August 2003 and lasted 17 minutes, others stating it occurred on 25 August 2003  (the first of two test flights that day) and lasted 8 minutes.However the ‘official’ maiden flight of the prototype took place on either 2 September or 3 September 2003, the prototype being marked with the new Pakistan Air Force designation JF-17. In late March 2004 it was reported that CAC had made around 20 test-flights of the first prototype. On 7 April 2004 the PAF’s first test pilots, Sqn Ldr Rashid Habib and Sqn Ldr Mohammad Ehsan ul-Haq, flew the PT-01 for the first time. The maiden flight of the third prototype, PT-03, took place two days later on 9 April 2004.

Prototype designation Role Official first flight
PT-01 Flight performance verification 2 September 2003
PT-02 Load testing
(static ground tests)		 N/A
PT-03 Flight performance verification 9 April 2004
PT-04 Weapons integration and avionics testing 28 April 2006
PT-05 Fatigue testing
(static ground tests)		 N/A
PT-06 Avionics testing 10 September 2006

In September 2005 it was reported that flaws in the design had began to surface after the first test flight in 2003, leading to work on design changes being started by Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute (CADI) in 2004. It was believed that the air intakes were being re-designed due to excessive amounts of smoke being emitted by the Klimov RD-93 engine and test-pilot reports of control problems had resulted in changes being made to the wing leading edge root extensions (strakes). It was also stated by CAC that the size of the vertical tail fin was being increased to house an expanded electronic warfare equipment bay at the tip of the fin. The re-designed aircraft was reported to have a maximum take-off weight slightly above the original 12,400 kg (27,300 lb) and a model was put on display at the Aviation Expo 2005 event in Beijing. It was planned that the re-designed prototypes would incorporate Chinese avionics suites, which would later be replaced by the PAF’s selected Western suite. As a result of the changes the first deliveries to the PAF were postponed from late 2005 to 2007. Test flights of the original flying prototypes, 01 and 03, were continuing. At this stage Pakistan was evaluating British, French and Italian avionics suites, the winner of which was expected to be finalised in 2006.

The fourth prototype and the first to incorporate the design changes, PT-04, was rolled out in a ceremony by CAC in mid-April 2006. On 28 April 2006, PT-04 flew for the first time in a test flight lasting 16 minutes  and announced by Chinese news agency Xinhua from Wenjiang airport in Chengdu. Pictures released by CAC gave details of the design changes, which included re-designed air intakes, larger leading edge root extensions (LERX), longer ventral fins underneath the rear of the fuselage and a taller vertical stabiliser fin, with lower angle of sweep and rectangular electronic warfare equipment housing at the tip.

The modifications to the air intakes replaced the conventional intake ramps, whose function is to divert turbulent boundary layer airflow away from the inlet and prevent it entering the engine, with a “diverterless supersonic inlet” (DSI) design very similar to that of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The DSI design uses a combination of forward-swept inlet cowls and a three-dimensional compression surface, referred to as a “bump” due to its shape, to divert the boundary layer airflow away from the intake at high sub-sonic through to supersonic speeds. According to Lockheed Martin, the DSI design prevents the majority of boundary layer air from entering the engine at speeds up to Mach 2, reduces weight by removing the need for complex mechanical intake mechanisms and is more stealthy than a conventional intake. Work on the DSI was started in 1999 with the aim of improving aircraft performance and took almost two years, during which a number of models underwent wind tunnel tests at different speed regimes. It was found that the DSI gave high performance, high total pressure recovery, low integrated distortion and good engine/intake matching.

For the avionics and weapons qualification phase of the flight testing, PT-04 was fitted with a 4th generation avionics suite that incorporates sensor fusion, electronic warfare suite, enhanced man-machine interface, Digital Electronic Engine Control (DEEC) for the RD-93 turbofan engine, FBW flight control, day/night precision surface attack capability and multi-mode pulse doppler radar for beyond visual range air-to-air attack capability, making the aircraft a modern multi-role fighter. A sixth prototype, PT-06, first flew on 10 September 2006.

Production, delivery and further development

Russia and China had originally signed an end-user certificate for the Klimov RD-93 engines preventing China from exporting the JF-17 to Pakistan, after protests by Pakistan’s adversary, India. In 2007 however, the Russian government reversed their decision after the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, signed the permission for re-export of the engines to Pakistan and six other countries.

The first consignment of two pre-production (small batch production, SBP) aircraft was received in Pakistan, arriving in dismantled form, on 2 March 2007. Once assembled, they were flown in Pakistani airspace for the first time 8 days later on 10 March 2007 and took part in an aerial demonstration to the public during the Pakistan Independence Day parade on 23 March 2007. According to statements by then PAF Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mehmood, it was intended that the PAF would induct 200 JF-17 by 2015 to replace all Chengdu F-7, Nanchang A-5, Dassault Mirage III and Mirage 5 combat aircraft. It was also stated that the PAF was preparing for in-flight refuelling (IFR) of JF-17 fighters ahead of their induction by upgrading a number of Mirage III fighters with IFR probes.[37] [38]

A dual-seat combat-capable training variant was initially scheduled to begin flight testing in 2006. However plans for this model seemed to have been cancelled until late 2007, when it was reported that Pakistan had decided to fund the development of the dual-seat model which would be used for training pilots and developed into a specialised attack variant.

In November 2007 it was reported that the PAF and PAC were conducting flight evaluation of the SBP aircraft fitted with a variant of the NRIET KLJ-10 radar, designed and built by China’s Nanjing Research Institute for Electronic Technology (NRIET), and the LETRI SD-10 active radar homing air-to-air missile. It was also stated by JF-17 program managers that they were seriously considering purchasing the Thales RC400 radar and MBDA MICA air-to-air missile from France for equipping the JF-17, meaning that in future the PAF could be operating a mixed fleet of JF-17 armed with Chinese and French radars and missiles.

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex began manufacturing JF-17 sub-assemblies on 22 January 2008. Manufacture of parts had already begun at PAC in 2005. The PAF was to receive a further 6 pre-production (small batch production, SBP) aircraft that year, giving it a total of 8 out of an initial production run of 16 aircraft. Initial operating capability (IOC) was to be achieved by the end of 2008.

Prior to the IDEAS 2008 (International Defence Exhibition and Seminar) event in Pakistan, news emerged that the PAF was not fully satisfied with the Klimov RD-93 turbofan engine and it would only power the first batch of 50 aircraft. It was reported that a deal for a new engine, believed to be the Snecma M53-P2, could appear during the exhibition.

Final assembly of the JF-17 in Pakistan began on 30 June 2009, with PAC expected to complete production of 4-6 aircraft before the end of the year. PAC then plans to produce 12 aircraft in 2010 and 15-16 aircraft per year from 2011. This may eventually be increased to 25 aircraft per year.

Design

Airframe and cockpit

The airframe is of semi-monocoque structure, constructed primarily of aluminium alloys, although plans are in place to reduce weight by increasing the use of composite materials. High strength steel and titanium alloys are partially adopted in some critical areas. The airframe is designed for a service life of 4,000 flight hours, or 25 years, the first overhaul being due at 1,200 flight hours.[5]

The mid-mounted wings are of cropped-delta pl

2 Responses to “JF-17 Thunder”

  1. Pakistan News Says:
    November 22nd, 2009 at 7:40 am

    “The PAF is also seeking to arm the JF-17 with a modern fifth generation close-combat missile such as the IRIS-T or A-darter. These will be integrated with the helmet mounted sights/display (HMS/HMD) as well as the radar for targeting.”
    “The PAF was not fully satisfied with the Klimov RD-93 turbofan engine and it would only power the first batch of 50 aircraft. It was reported that a deal for a new engine, believed to be the Snecma M53-P2.”

  2. Nilma Azeem Says:
    November 22nd, 2009 at 7:42 am

    JF – 17 is a Good All Purpose Fighter Aircraft, Will Strenghten Pakistan For Sure, Pakistan Air Force Next Plan is J-10 Fighter Aircraft, Watch Out Indians, Here Comes Guardians of the Skies…….Pakistan Air Force

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