JF-17/FC-1 Fighter Aircraft thread

Mohsin77 said:

What? Look at it, they added LED headlights in the coupé. That's interesting! Appreciate it or die!

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Well, I'm gonna date myself again? but I like those dual landing lights, lots of cool birds have had those big glass bulbs... I know they are much hotter, pull a lot more amps, and do burn out, but they are kinda like eyeballs....

I love two bulbs on the nose gear strut, I believe most of Cessna's classic twins had that set-up, Lockheed Electra's, sticking with Classic Cessna's, the 195 had two large retractable landing lights that retracted aft flush with the lower wing skins, the Cessna 310 had a similar setup that retracted into tip tanks, very cool..

but I get that you young guys love LED landing lights, they do put out a lot of light, draw a lot less amps, burn a lot cooler, and last a lot longer...

So JF 17 Block II production is now finishing. Any update on JF 17 block III...

So that means Pakistan Air Force should have around 150 Thunders Block l & lls. I think Block-llls would most likely commence production by end of this year. Based purely on economics, it wouldn't be feasible to leave the production line inactive or under uncertain time period. Unless of course, there are orders from other countries in the offing. It would be interesting to see whether Egypt, Malaysia and Azerbaijan place orders this year. Because when they do, it would benefit PAC Thunder production line.

They could also be retooling the production facilities.

Dizasta1 said:

So that means Pakistan Air Force should have around 150 Thunders Block l & lls. I think Block-llls would most likely commence production by end of this year. Based purely on economics, it wouldn't be feasible to leave the production line inactive or under uncertain time period. Unless of course, there are orders from other countries in the offing. It would be interesting to see whether Egypt, Malaysia and Azerbaijan place orders this year. Because when they do, it would benefit PAC Thunder production line.

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Block I

07-101 to 07-105 thats 5 units
08-106 to 08-108 that's 3 units
09-109 to 09-112 that's 4 units
10-113 to 10-128 that's 16 units
11-129 to 11-136 that's 8 units
12-137 to 12-142 that's 6 units
13-143 to 13-150 that's 8 units

JF17 Block II production rates

15-201 to 15-216 that's 16 units
16-217 to 16-234 that's 18 units
17-235 to 17-250 that's 16 units

I thought they built 12 in 2018 but it looks like they spread the 12 over 1 and 1/2 years

If those 12 are on the final assembly line they might get serial 19-262 or maybe 18-262 don’t know

So that’s 50+50+12 = 112

Add to that 2 x JF17B

JF17 Block III was due to fly 2017, then 2018 and now 2019

Now it could even slip to 2020 and they still haven’t decided on the ASEA radar

Shocking unnecessary delay due to bad planning we are at least 2 years behind if not soon 3 years because some idiot within PAF can’t decide what radar to pick, should be court marshalled

asif iqbal said:

Now it could even slip to 2020 and they still haven’t decided on the ASEA radar

Shocking unnecessary delay due to bad planning we are at least 2 years behind if not soon 3 years because some idiot within PAF can’t decide what radar to pick, should be court marshalled

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I think it's the engine selection. I doubt AESA selection would cause such a delay.

Words from the air chief

“Will make a decision on one of the two new Chinese AESA [airborne electronically scanned-array] radars we are currently evaluating for these aircraft”

And

“we are currently evaluating for these aircraft". He noted that, although supportability and cost will be factors in the decision, the service hopes to have the aircraft operating with the new radar by March 2020.”

Shocking behaviour after such a good start we are now losing our advantage

Pick the bloody radar and get the jet in the air

asif iqbal said:

Words from the air chief

“Will make a decision on one of the two new Chinese AESA [airborne electronically scanned-array] radars we are currently evaluating for these aircraft”

And

“we are currently evaluating for these aircraft". He noted that, although supportability and cost will be factors in the decision, the service hopes to have the aircraft operating with the new radar by March 2020.”

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I doubt these statements indicate the actual cause of the delay. It doesn't say production is being held up because of AESA selection. The delay itself has opened up further options for AESA which didn't exist 3 years ago.

Mohsin77 said:

I doubt these statements indicate the actual cause of the delay. It doesn't say production is being held up because of AESA selection. The delay itself has opened up further options for AESA which didn't exist 3 years ago.

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AESA development typically takes between 10 -15 years and are always subject to development issues. I suspect options here are not about choices but of trade offs and therefore end product development required. There could be many reasons, cost vs capabilities, MTBF trade offs; FOV decisions; EW/radar emission conflict and air-to-air vs air-to-ground mode selection et al. The main capability difference between Block 2 and 3 is the radar. There is no point rushing if you can't get the end product meeting expectation.