China providing Pakistan 50 fighter jets

By Hwasim - Fri May 20, 9:52 am

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Edited byHwasim

China has agreed to provide Pakistan with 50 additional fighter jets in a deal clinched during Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s trip to Beijing, a Pakistani air force official said Friday.

Gilani was wrapping up four-day visit that highlighted Pakistan’s warm ties with China at a time of heightened tensions with Washington over the killing of Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani town by American special forces.

Pakistan is seen as eager to show a demanding Washington that it has a strong diplomatic alternative in uncritical ally China.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Pakistani air force official confirmed the deal to provide the JF-17 Thunder jets, a single-engine multirole fighter developed in cooperation between China and Pakistan. He offered no details on cost or other terms of the agreement.

Known as the FC-1 Xiaolong in China, defense experts say the planes are being offered for export at the relatively low price of about $15 million, making it a cost-efficient replacement for aging workhorses such as the MiG-21 and Northrop F-5 Tiger.

Pakistan has already inducted an initial squadron 14 of the planes into its air force, using some of them alongside U.S.-made F-16s to bomb insurgent strongholds in South Waziristan in 2009. The air force has long been expected to procure more of the planes, including future models with more advanced radars and more powerful engines.