KARACHI, Sept 16: The prototype of the Super-7 high-tech aircraft, being developed in collaboration with China, will commence trial operations in June next year.

This was stated by the chief of air staff, Air Chief Marshall Mushaf Ali Mir while talking to newsmen at the Ideas 2002 on Thursday. He added that these prototypes will be flown by Pakistani pilots in China.

To a question, he said that up to 50 per cent parts of the aircraft would be manufactured in Pakistan. He said that most of the avionics would be made in the country, and emphasised that the Super-7 will be a much bigger joint venture project between China and Pakistan than the Karakoram-8 project.

While developing indigenous capability, he said, Pakistan was in quest of acquiring high-tech aircraft and radar from other sources also.

He hoped that as a result of the upcoming Defence Consultative Group’s meeting between Pakistan and the United States, some of the constraints would be removed.

Asked whether the PAF was considering acquiring AWACS to cope with the evolving security environment, the air chief said that AWACS will be the top priority because it would be a big force multiplier.

At the moment, he said there were two modes of surveillance — AWACs and balloon-borne radars.

He also referred to other options, like aircraft of French and Swedish origin, but said that owing to the prevailing situation there were some political and economic constraints.

He claimed that the PAF had boosted its capability through intensive training and upgradation of the planes to offset the imbalance in the numbers game.

Chief of Air Staff was flanked by Director General Air Weapons Complex, Air Marshal Shahid Hamid; Chairman Pakistan Aerospace Complex, Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb; Director Precision Engineering Complex, Air Vice Marshal S.J.Raza.