377Views 19Comments
Official 2016 Nigerian budget confirms JF-17 order
The officially sanctioned Appropriation Act for 2016 – i.e. the 2016 Nigerian Federal Budget – confirms an order for three JF-17 multi-role combat aircraft.
The JF-17 is jointly produced and marketed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. In December, PAC announced that it handed over 70 JF-17s to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the platform’s sole user, currently.
Notes & Comments:
Although there have been multiple reports of Nigerian officials and state documents listing the purchase, this is first-hand confirmation from the Government of Nigeria.
For 2016, Nigeria has issued USD $15.88 million for the purchase. However, the proposed 2017 budget lists USD $68.76 million for “platform acquisitions … for counter air, counter surface, air ops for strategic effect and air support operations.”
It stands to reason that a portion of the proposed budget involves the JF-17s. While USD $68.76 million would be sufficient to pay for three JF-17s – and the requisite maintenance, logistics and training package – upfront, the budget likely includes other acquisitions.
For example, the NAF is building a fleet of 12 Mil Mi-35 air assault helicopters, and it is interested in adding the EMB-314 Super Tucano to bolster its close air support capabilities.
It is possible that the proposed 2017 budget allocates funds for the JF-17s in flyaway condition, meaning, the NAF will pay for and receive the fighter units, but will pay for the maintenance, logistics, and training in subsequent annually-paid terms as it operates the aircraft.
19 Comments
by Catalyst
Alhamdolillah. Congratulations Pakistan.
by Shafiq Ahmed
Great Job Pakistan .Now we export fighter jets Alhamdolillah
by Qasim57
~$70 million (1.5 million for 2016 + 68.76 for 2017 = 70.26 million) is a rather low flyaway price.
It could mean the per-plane cost is $23.42 Million (unless some of the budget is for other stuff, then JFT’s flyaway cost is even lower), they most likely aren’t getting all the “bells and whistles”.
by Bilal Khan
That would be a fair flyaway price, actually. There’s hardly anything expensive in the JF-17: low cost labour, parts, a $500m development overhead, RD-93 (i.e. early gen RD-33) turbofan.
by Syed Bushra
Super Tucano is right out of WW1 and WW2 handbooks but I guess it does the job for CAS during COIN operations.
by Qasim57
Looking forward to it 🙂
by Shoaib Mansoor
Dear Bilal,
Can you kindly provide a guess, what kind of upgrades likely to be in block-3s ? will there be any engine and airframe changes ?? 🙂
by Bilal Khan
Most of the changes in the JF-17 Block-III are in terms of internal subsystems. Nothing verified regarding the engine and airframe, but there are some interesting things in other very important areas, but they’ll come to light officially soon. The Block-III is a fairly significant upgrade.
by mazhar
So Nigeria was the country which inked Thunder contract in Paris? Or there is some else in the pipeline too?
by mazhar
Super Tocano gives a look of Spitfire of WW2, still not cheap ($9 to $14M US) a piece. For close support you need less speed that’s why Pakistan had A5s from china (Subsonic) but spending that amount of money on Tocano type aircraft is waistage.
by mazhar
This sale is the first “3” drops of the rain. Well done PAF and Kamra engineers. Once we have our thunder flying outside of Pakistan airspace, more orders will follow. After all it is 80 to 90% Falcon-F16 type but not the pocket buster.
by MT
Aesa alone cost15+mill $.
Add 2-4mill $:for modified engine
Tejas mk1a which on paper is finer than block3 ll cost 80mill $ including HOBS+bvraam missile.
Mk1 cost 30 mill $ a piece
by Steve
Was supposed to be an Asian country, Myanmar or SL.
by Steve
I think maintainence and running cost are lower for turboprops. Also easier to maintain and less labour intensive. Air war experts please correct me if I’m wrong!
by kash
u have a very active imagination
by Eagle
China still leading in cheap jet manufacturing in Asia and sell them to technological inferior Asian and African countries. Kudos to you red China.
by Steve
$15 million for AESA! Is that propaganda cost because you are worried about JF17 sales or real cost 😉 Let me enlighten you. An AESA upgrade these days should cost no more than $2-3M maximum. The link below proves you’re full of the proverbial. Keep up the pathetic RAW propoganda because you are worried about JF17 sales but nobody believes you. You’ve been exposed. Ask your RAW supervisor for help! It’s a very good sign that you guys are so worried about JF17 sales. Excellent! Bilal I would be grateful if you could allow this post. We need less disinformation on this forum.
http://www.aerospaceamerica.org/Documents/AerospaceAmerica-PDFs-2013/April-2013/Electronics-Update-April2013-AA.pdf
by Harvey King
Super Tucano uses components from US UK Israel Canada Belgium, etc. which means any sale may requires license from these countries.
this is the reason why Jf-17 is so special. it is not subject to these kind of restrictions from the West. Chinese is working hard to remove the only dependency , it’s engine, from Russia for the same strategic reason .
by mazhar
SL backed off due to Indian pressure, Myanmar never confirmed anything officially. I think PAF sale team tricked by talking about the eastern country whereas it was Nigeria in reality,I think it was a smart move.