By Franz-Stefan Gady
An unnamed Asian country will be the JF-17s first export destination.
The Sino-Pakistan jointly developed JF-17 Thunder fighter jet has its first confirmed foreign buyer, Flightglobal reports.
“A contract has been signed with an Asian country,” stated Air Commodore Khalid Mahmood, head of sales and marketing for the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft, at the biennially held Paris Air Show yesterday.
Khalid refused to name the country. Nor did he specify the number of planes to be sold, although he stated that deliveries will begin in 2017. He did, however, emphasize that 11 other countries have shown interest in acquiring the multirole fighter aircraft.
Numerous air forces are toying with the idea of purchasing the JF-17, and the media has floated more than a dozen potential export destinations, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria (see: “Pakistan and China May Finally Have a JF-17 Buyer”), Myanmar, Nigeria, the Philippines, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Read the full story at The Diplomat