ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Air Force (PAF) annou­nced on Friday that JF-17B, a two-seat version of JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, had been successfully tested.

Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman witnessed the test-flight in Chengdu, China.

The aircraft, produced jointly by Pakistan and China, was developed at the Aviation Industry Corpo­ration of China and it can be used both for training and combat missions.

“The JF-17B dual-seat fighter aircraft is a major milestone towards self-reliance and would boost operational and training capabilities of the Pakistan Air Force. It will further enha­nce advanced combat training of PAF fighter pilots on this indigenous war fighting machine,” the PAF said.

The JF-17 aircraft was inducted into the PAF in 2007 and its five squadrons have been raised so far.

“The JF-17 Thunder is an excellent fighter aircraft which can easily be compared with the fourth generation aircraft of the world,” the PAF statement said, adding that the aircraft in its fleet were actively engaged in all types of operations.

“The recently posted images confirm that the fighter has a larger swept-back vertical stabiliser as seen in a model of the aircraft shown at Airshow China in Nov 2016. They also confirm that the variant has a deeper dorsal spine, which adds fuel capacity to compensate for the additional weight,” Jane’s Defence reported.

Defence analyst Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal says JF-17 was the result of cooperation between Pakistan, China and Russia.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2017