(Islamabad) The above headline doesn't sound like much, but actually it something of a huge story. Pakistan is the puppet for the China in its cold war against India. Which kind of explains why it fields so much Chinese military equipment in its armoury. (Tanks, Ships, Subs, Missiles and of course jets)
The JF-17 is the fighter aircraft which Pakistan has decided will replace the F16 as its main fighter aircraft. Funny enough The JF-17 is nothing more than the Mig 21 in new clothing. (well actually the Chengdu J-7 which is the chinese clone of the Mig 21) which the F16 was designed to beat in a dog fight. Anyway, rather than spend lots of money,time and effort in designing a brand new aircraft, Beijing simply upgraded what they already had with modern avionics. The result a modern day lightweight multi-role fighter jet which is on par with earlier F16 variants. As it stands the JF-17 can cause problems for India and they have reacted accordingly , however with the news that China is going to fit the KLJ-7A active electronically scanned-array (AESA) radar to the JF-17s, they will improve the capability of the aircraft immensely, increasing the pressure on India to spend more money and divert more resources to the west of the country, all at little cost to China to the east.
(In a nutshell an AESA radar users solid state electronics to scan rather than a rotating dish. It is quicker, more effective and can target more hostiles)
My gripe is Pakistan spends money it can't afford on its military, currently it is the biggest recipient of British foreign aid, whilst the British tax payer feeds the Pakistani people ,funds Pakistani schools, hospitals , the Pakistanis spend their money on weapons of war. Personally I would like the Uk to cut all funding to Pakistan (Like the US has done) and get them to look after their own people. I mean the UKs main fighter jet the Typhoon doesn't have an AESA radar, so why should we fund others to do so.
