Pakistan Air Force announced Tuesday to have successfully test-fired JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, which is claimed to be indigenously developed smart weapon having night capability and targets with pinpoint accuracy.
PAF added it was a great milestone for Pakistan as the fighter jet has been developed, integrated and qualified by efforts of Pakistani scientists and engineers.
The air force said, “The successful trial has provided JF-17 Thunder a very potent and assured day and night capability to engage variety of targets with pinpoint accuracy.”
Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan lauded efforts of Pakistani engineers and scientists.
The PAF didn’t reveal the technical details of the weapon. The JF-17 was earlier referred as FC-1 Xiaolong, which was jointly produced by Pakistan and China. It was a single-engine multi-role light fighter and its engines were supplied by Russia.
The test-firing of JF-17 comes amid tensions between India and Pakistan following suicide terror attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group in Kashmir’s Pulwama district to which India retaliated with air strikes on JeM’s training camps in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 26.
Forty CRPF personnel were killed in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14.
The next day of air strike Pakistan retaliated and downed a MiG-21 fighter plane of India in an aerial combat. Indian pilot was captured too, but later was released.
