The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) are ready to release the first batch of JF-17 Thunder multirole fighter aircraft to Nigerian Air Force later in the year and this goes to show how successful our very own JF-17 fighter jet has been. The world is interested in acquiring this amazing combat aircraft. The news has in turn been confirmed by the Chief of Air Staff of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.
Moreover, the NAF chief also stated that they will that be receiving the issuance of these aircrafts by November, this year, however he did has yet to specify the number of aircrafts the PAF is selling to the Nigerian Air Force. If you didn’t know, the JF-17 Thunder is the joint production of China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC). The aircraft is a multirole fighter jet and it can be used for both Defense and attack and some of it functions include, interception, ground attack, anti-ship, and aerial reconnaissance.
The country’s president had allocated $61 million for Nigerian Air Force’s JF-17 program in 2016 and 17. The Nigerians are looking to purchase these fighter jets in phases or say leases so that it does not burden the economy of the nation. The Nigerian Air Force are looking to acquire these jets in a bid to carry out operations against the armed bandit groups currently a cause of concern for their nation, these groups include the, Boko Haram and other insurgent groups who are occupying the northern areas of the country.
It should also be brought to attention that Pakistan have already sold four JF-17 to India’s neighboring country, Myanmar, last year. Pakistan in a bid to expand there aircraft market are looking to sell these fighter jets to Malaysia, Azerbaijan and other African countries.
