Through this decade, the J-10CE and JF-17 Block-3 will form the new mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) combat aircraft fleet. However, one can readily guess that the J-10CE and JF-17 will make up a “high-low mix” – i.e., a combination of a larger, “high-end” fighter complemented by a smaller, “low-end” fighters in greater numbers. In fact, with every generation, the PAF had always built a high-low mix, at least since the start of its own jet age when it inducted both the F-86 and F-104.
However, this generation’s high-low mix could be fundamentally different due to one factor between the J-10CE and JF-17 Block-3: a common technology platform.
Historically, the PAF’s high-low mix combinations – be it the F-104 and F-86, or the Mirage III/5 and the F-6, and the F-16 and F-7P/PG – had generational gaps. Basically, the “high-end” fighter was usually a full generation ahead in terms of technology than its “low-end” counterpart.
As a result, with each generation of PAF fighter fleets, the PAF had a situation where it would lean on a small number of advanced jets for its most qualitatively impactful roles.
For example, in the 1980s, it was the Mirage 5PA3 that carried the PAF’s anti-ship warfare (AShW) role through its capability to deploy the Exocet anti-ship cruising missile (ASCM). The F-6s, which had formed the bulk of the PAF fleet by this point, did not have this capability. The newly inducted F-16s could possibly complement the Mirage 5PA3s in the AShW role, though the PAF did not secure an ASCM for the platform.
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