Beijing assisted Pakistan in equipping its defence technology with the upgraded version of fighter jets the J-10CE this week (6 fighter jets in total). It’s a great achievement to have exported such a high-tech fighter jet states Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group of China.
The Chinese state-run group introduced the fighter jets to Pakistan’s forces at an event attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday, informing Pakistani media and Chinese media. The J-10CE is Pakistan’s answer to India acquiring French manufactured Rafale warplanes. It is a single-seat, single-engine, multi-role, all-weather 4th Gen fighter jet.
China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group’s design team has equipped the fighter jet with the latest missiles, the PL-10 which is a short-range combat missile, and also with China’s pl-15 also called as ‘Thunderbolt’ which is an active long-range air-to-air radar-guided missile.
Pakistan has not yet revealed how many fighter jets China has promised to deliver however earlier news has it that close to 25 such J-10CE are in the pipeline of which 6 have been delivered.
In a report by Global Times, the Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) of China stated, “China and Pakistan will now take their aviation defence cooperation to the next level and strengthen their All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership.”
AVIC has so far sent J-6 and J-7 fighters, Q-5 attackers to Pakistan and also have trained Pakistan forces with the Chinese K-8 basic trainer.
Further, in their statement, AVIC added, “With the growing technology in the combat segment and the demand in the international market for combat technology, China along with Pakistan has built the FC-1, which is a lightweight, multi-role, single-engine 4th Gen fighter jet also called as JF-17.”
Shi Hong, of Chinese Magazine Shipborne Weapons, proudly stated, “The J-10 CE has outdone JF-17 and Pakistan’s age-old US-manufactured F-16 fighter jet. Pakistan’s current J-10CE can easily pose as a fitting opponent to India’s French-built Rafale warplanes, which were inducted into the Indian Air force recently.
