PAC JF-17 Thunder

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The PAC JF-17 Thunder (Urdu: جے ایف-17 گرج), or CAC FC-1 Xiaolong (pinyin: Xiāo Lóng; lit. 'Fierce Dragon'), is a lightweight, single-engine, fourth-generation multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China. It was designed to replace the ageing A-5C, F-7P/PG, Mirage III, and Mirage V combat aircraft in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The JF-17 can be used for multiple roles, including interception, ground attack, anti-ship, and aerial reconnaissance. The Pakistani designation JF-17 stands for Joint Fighter-17, with the -17 denoting that, in the PAF's vision, it is the successor to the F-16. The Chinese designation FC-1 Xiaolong stands for Fighter China-1 Fierce Dragon. The JF-17 can deploy diverse ordnance, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, including anti-ship missiles, and a 23 mm GSh-23-2 twin-barrel autocannon. Powered by a Guizhou WS-13 or Klimov RD-93 afterburning turbofan, it has a top speed of Mach 1.6. The JF-17 is the backbone and workhorse of the PAF, complementing the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon at approximately half the cost. The JF-17 was inducted in the PAF in February 2010. 58% of the JF-17 airframe, including its front fuselage, wings, and vertical stabilizer, is produced in Pakistan, whereas 42% is produced in China, with the final assembly and serial production taking place in Pakistan. In 2015, Pakistan produced 16 JF-17s. As of 2016, PAC has the capacity to produce 20 JF-17s annually. By April 2017, PAC had manufactured 70 Block 1 aircraft and 33 Block 2 aircraft for the PAF.[16] By 2016, PAF JF-17s had accumulated over 19,000 hours of operational flight. In 2017, PAC/CAC began developing a dual-seat variant known as the JF-17B for enhanced operational capability, conversion training, and lead-in fighter training.[18][19] The JF-17B Block 2 variant went into serial production at PAC in 2018 and 26 aircraft were delivered to the PAF by December 2020.[20] In December 2020, PAC began serial production of a more advanced Block 3 version of the aircraft with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, a more powerful Russian Klimov RD-93MA engine, a larger and more advanced wide-angle Head-Up Display (HUD), electronic countermeasures, an additional hardpoint, and enhanced weapons capability. PAF JF-17s have seen military action, both air-to-air and air-to-ground, including bombing terrorist positions in North Waziristan near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border during anti-terror operations in 2014 and 2017 using both guided and unguided munitions, shooting down an intruding Iranian military drone near the Pakistan-Iran Border in Balochistan in 2017, and in Operation Swift Retort during the 2019 Jammu and Kashmir airstrikes and aerial skirmish between India and Pakistan. aircraft military military navy army airport army plane jet airplane fighter war defence military aircraft