On 08 April 2019, Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) released a tender requiring the “establishment of warehouse for JF-17 MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul).
The tender can be viewed on PAC’s official website.
Besides stating that the MRO warehouse is “a turnkey project”, PAC did not provide specific timelines for the project in the bid. However, the bidder is required to have previously done warehouse construction work in at least two Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bases. It must also offer a warranty of items for 12 months.
In November 2017, China Aviation News (CAN) reported that the PAF sent a JF-17 to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (AVIC) Aircraft Maintenance Factory in Chengfei for a major overhaul. The project was a joint pilot program between PAC and AVIC ahead of setting-up a MRO facility in Pakistan.
It appears that PAC’s JF-17 MRO facility project is now in motion.
The PAF inducted its first JF-17s (via the No. 26 Squadron) in 2010. In other words, its first JF-17s are now nearing 10 years of operational service. According to AVIC (via Air International), the JF-17 has an airframe life of 3,000 hours.[1] If each JF-17 is flown for 150 to 200 hours per year, that would equate to a total life-cycle of 15 to 20 years. Thus, the JF-17 Block-I is reaching its ‘mid-life’ point.
In that respect, it would be interesting if the PAF would entertain a ‘mid-life update’ (MLU) of the Block-I and, in time, the Block-II. Granted, it might not be able to cost-effectively integrate every component of the Block-III (such as its three-axis fly-by-wire system), but an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar appears to be doable, in technical terms at least.
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