timepass
Brigadier
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the issuance of a certificate of sovereign guarantee for the sale of three JF-17 aircraft to Nigerian Air Force against a sum of $184.3 million.
JF-17/FC-1 Fighter Aircraft thread
- Thread starter johnqh
- Start date
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the issuance of a certificate of sovereign guarantee for the sale of three JF-17 aircraft to Nigerian Air Force against a sum of $184.3 million.
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Deleted member 13312
Guest
3 units for 184.3 million ? That is approx 61.4 million per plane, a rather inflated sum considering the original units were only 28 million each. And even if we bring in tech support, spare parts and pilot training. That hardly justifies a sum that is more than twice the original asking price.
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved the issuance of a certificate of sovereign guarantee for the sale of three JF-17 aircraft to Nigerian Air Force against a sum of $184.3 million.
PAF was paying close to $750 for 8 F-16 Block-52+ that got cancelled, that be about almost $100 Million / plane, that is even after full built in house infrastructure to support over 100 F-16s. I am not sure what the current cost of production for JF-17 is, the $28 Million was back in early 2000s.
Not sure if you can call it a Highway Robbery without full knowledge of what all is involved in sale.
Not sure if you can call it a Highway Robbery without full knowledge of what all is involved in sale.
Price for any military equipment is always many times greater than "retail price". $62M per plane package is still probably the cheapest export, brand new 4th gen by a very wide margin. The price probably includes training, parts, maintenance, spare engines, and some sort of insurance. Listed price is never a good indication of how much something actually costs in real life. Look at Rafale price for India. Vastly different set up but also more than two times greater than the listed unit price and that's with India doing most of the actual fabrication.
JF-17 will definitely be delivered with weapons packages included too. It's incompatible with the majority of other existing non-Chinese weapons. Considering all that, the plane itself really is about the listed price of $30M. The closest fighter in terms of weight, dimensions, and payload, is the Gripen and that's more than $100M as a package export deal. Could well be more capable justifying the price hike but there it is.
JF-17 will definitely be delivered with weapons packages included too. It's incompatible with the majority of other existing non-Chinese weapons. Considering all that, the plane itself really is about the listed price of $30M. The closest fighter in terms of weight, dimensions, and payload, is the Gripen and that's more than $100M as a package export deal. Could well be more capable justifying the price hike but there it is.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Nigeria is actively fight Boko Harram, so I would expect them to be buying these fighters for actual fighting.
That means a significantly bigger weapons package than would be normal for a standard peacetime fighter procurement deal.
I would expect targeting pods and a lot of PGMs to be part of the deal.
In addition, 3 fighters is not worth buying, especially as a new type not already operated. so this would almost certainly be phase 1 of a much larger purchase.
The large initial price most likely also covers payment for options for additional airframes, as a form of deposit, with that initial prepayment then applied to subsequent airframes reducing the cost per plane on follow-on orders.
That means a significantly bigger weapons package than would be normal for a standard peacetime fighter procurement deal.
I would expect targeting pods and a lot of PGMs to be part of the deal.
In addition, 3 fighters is not worth buying, especially as a new type not already operated. so this would almost certainly be phase 1 of a much larger purchase.
The large initial price most likely also covers payment for options for additional airframes, as a form of deposit, with that initial prepayment then applied to subsequent airframes reducing the cost per plane on follow-on orders.
Dizasta1
Senior Member
Umm $28 is for the aircraft. I'm certain Nigerian Air Force isn't buying JF-17 Thunders to fly around on military parades. The other $33 million accounts for weapons like AAMs, LGBs, technical support, training and establishing depot level maintenance infrastructure. And I don't know, but the Nigerians might wanna keep a few critical spare parts lying around, just in case they need them. Unless of course they're happy go lucky like India and send their aircraft all the way to Russia, to get their aircraft serviced.
Make sense now? ... Good!!
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Deleted member 13312
Guest
And again, spare parts and missiles to cost just as much as another fighter in and on itself ? Considering the kind of threat environment Nigeria is look at, as well as the pathetic number of 3 units. It can be said that this deal more of a show trip than having actual military sense. And in the end Nigeria will have to send their JF-17s back to Russia for serious engine maintenance when they reach their half life in serivce.
Nor do the report gave any statement regarding where and how that money is being funneled into.
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Deleted member 13312
Guest
The kind of threat that Boko Haram poses is one that is more appropriately dealt with via lighter aircrafts like attack helicopters or light attack fighters like the A-29. If Nigeria wants to use the JF-17 for this kind of work they are fully in their right to do so, but it will be a poor use of the aircraft. And with just 3 units to cover an area the size of Niger these units will be taxed out pretty quickly.
And it is too early to say that Nigeria is working on a bigger deal to follow up the 3 being purchased when there is no evidence to suggest as such. Considering that Myanmar can have 17 units without any form of down payment, why should Nigeria do the same
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Deleted member 13312
Guest
The problem with the India Rafale deal is precisely that India insisted that all manufacturing be done domestically, it denies France the profit of local manufacturing and jobs. That is why the price was significantly jacked up. In the end, the deal was drastically reduced to 36 units all made in France, and then the price was somewhat reduced.
On the matter of the Gripen, it must be said that the intervening years have seen the price tag on in being increased during the interval years. Now some estimates put the fighter around nearly 60 million USD per unit on the high end. And if the export package for a whole set is rated around 100 million, that is at least a reasonable number being a 3:5 ratio.
Now if the JF-17 has too in the interval years seen it's price tag increased to match that of the Gripen, then the 183 million deal will not seem so far fetched. If there is any statement regarding the new price for it I am all too happy to see it.