Over the next three to five years, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) combat aircraft fleet will transition to almost entirely 4 and 4+ generation fighters. Though moving past legacy designs such as the Mirage III/5 and F-7P/PG may mark a significant shift on paper, the PAF’s training and doctrine efforts are critical to closing the gap between practice and theory. The JF-17B is the centerpiece of those efforts.
Background on the JF-17B
The JF-17B is the two-seat variant of the JF-17 Thunder, one of the PAF’s mainstay fighter aircraft. Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) announced the JF-17B’s development start in April 2016.[1] The first JF-17B prototype flew the following year in April 2017.[2]
Though the two-seat version, the JF-17B was also an upgrade of the Thunder in itself. For example, AVIC introduced the new three-axis fly-by-wire (FBW) digital flight control system slotted for the JF-17 Block-3 via the JF-17B. The JF-17B also featured a larger nose cone with the express purpose of one day integrating the KLJ-7A active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.[3] AVIC also designed in a dorsal spine to carry fuel so as to offset the space taken by the second seat.
PAC took delivery of its first JF-17B (i.e., 17-601) in early 2019. The second unit (i.e., 19-602) followed later that year. In May 2019, the then PAF Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Mujahid Anwar Khan revealed that Air Headquarters (AHQ) ordered 26 JF-17Bs.[4] This would be in addition to the JF-17 Block-1, Block-2, and the Block-3, thus bringing the PAF’s total Thunder fleet to well over 150 aircraft.[5]
The PAF received its first 12 JF-17Bs on 30 December 2019, and the remaining 14 the following year on 31 December 2020. However, the PAF lost a JF-17B in an accident on 06 August 2021. The PAF allocated the bulk of the JF-17Bs to No. 18 Squadron (‘Sharp Shooters’), the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). Besides assigning No.18 to acclimate pilots for the Thunder, the PAF also sent JF-17Bs to each operational frontline squadron to reinforce its training regimen. Each squadron should have at least one JF-17B.[6]
The New Challenge
Interestingly, the PAF was content with using simulators to train pilots for the JF-17. Originally, it did not require a twin-seater.[7] Prior to the JF-17B, pilots would spend 30 hours on simulators (procured by Spain’s Indra) before flying a real aircraft. It seems that the PAF sought the JF-17B to help transition newer, less experienced pilots to both multirole fighter flying and the Thunder in one stroke.
One of the ‘good problems’ of shifting to a fleet of 4 and 4+ generation fighters is that new pilots will start on those sophisticated aircraft from the onset. The capabilities that were limited to the F-16 and upgraded Mirage III/5s got diffused across the entire fleet. In some cases, such as AESA radar use, the JF-17 will have a net-new capability that does not even exist in the F-16.
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