KAMRA: The final assembling of Pakistan’s first JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter aircraft began on Tuesday.

The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, inaugurated the work at the Aircraft Manufacturing Factory (AMF) of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

Senior military and civilian officers of Pakistan and China attended the ceremony.

Air Chief Marshal Suleman said it was a major step towards the goal of self-reliance in military aviation industry. He said the aircraft would replace the air force’s ageing fleet of A-5s, F-7s and Mirages.

The JF-17 Thunder is capable of carrying a variety of conventional and precision-guided bombs and air-to-air and air-to-sea missiles of short and ‘beyond visual’ ranges.

The air chief marshal said six JF-17s would be completed by the end of the current year and the first aircraft would hopefully roll out in October. He said setting up a fighter aircraft manufacturing facility was an extremely demanding task.

'Today’s success stands on the foundations of the perseverance of our pilots, engineers and technicians and their Chinese counterparts,' he said.

He said the country would join a select group of nations having indigenous fighter aircraft production capability.

The air force chief urged the PAC personnel to seize the opportunity of being part of a prestigious national programme and make the nation proud through the joint venture of Pakistan and China.
He said he PAF was looking to forming a JF-17 squadron.

He said the aircraft would be the mainstay of PAF’s operations, multiply its operational capacity and enable it to conduct day and night multi-role operations which had become imperative in the prevailing global and regional situation.

He praised the efforts of engineers and technicians of the AMF and the Kamra Avionics and Radar Factory (KARF).

He commended Chinese cooperation and help of its companies, particularly the CATIC, CADI and CAC.

PAC chairman Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan said the equipment being inducted for the project represented a quantum leap in the technological capability of the complex.

He said over 300 technicians had been extensively trained in aviation- related technologies.

He said the JF-17 Thunder was an advanced, multi-purpose, light combat aircraft, jointly developed by Pakistan and China.