Pakistan’s strong defence can bring stability to the region:

http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/27/welcome.htm

KAMRA, Feb 27 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Monday said Pakistan with its strong defence capabilities can play a major stabilising role in the region. “The region has lot of challenges and if we look around the neighbourhood, having a strong credible defence capability can only add to peace,” he said at a ceremony to the mark the inaugurate manufacturing of parts for Boeing aircraft by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. “Like any sovereign country we will always defend our soverignty,” he said and vowed that the government would provide all resources to “enhance and maintain” its defence capability.

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http://geo.tv/geonews/details.asp?id=108367

PM Aziz visits Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra
KAMRA: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated Monday departments of overhauling of propellers for the C-130 aircraft and manufacturing of parts of Boeing aircraft here at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

The prime minister who earlier had an extensive briefing about the working of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra called for more joint ventures and more focus on marketing to leverage the full potential of the organisation.

He said with reliability, quality and dependabilities as its hallmarks, the PAC would now be a partner of Boeing and be a part of its international vendors.

The Prime Minister referring to the overhauling of propellers for the C-130 aircraft, said it was a workhorse used by many air forces around the world.

“We need to market our capabilities and need to go for joint ventures,” he added.

Describing the PAC as a “Centre of Excellence” he appreciated its role in the rebuild, manufacturing and design of aircraft and said “every Pakistani is proud of PAC…you have made us proud.”

He said the JF-17 Thunder will be the frontline aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force in the next decade as it has the necessary punch, the avionics and the capability to defend country’s airspace.

The Prime Minister said the PAC would expand its manufacturing capabilities in electronics, avionics and production of aircrafts.

He said self-reliance for essential defence equipment was very important for Pakistan as it has seen many a ups and downs in the past.

“The more self-reliant we are, the more we are prepared for future challenges,” he said.

Prime Minister Aziz said steps were underway to further enhance exports of the Super Mashak aircraft and appreciated that they have earned the PAC a good repute, both by civil and military users.

The PAC is currently supplying aircraft and services to several international companies including the Rolls Royce USA, SAAB of Sweden, Sagem of France.

He said the companies should see the PAC as their extension. “We are not shy of performing, of delivering of being competitive and will supply you the quality products,” he added.

He said the Pakistan Air Force is a source of pride for every Pakistani and has played its role in war and peace and come above all expectations.

The Prime Minister was appreciative of the PAF’s role in the supply of relief goods in the wake of Oct 8 earthquake to inaccessible areas.

“We will support you and give you all resources and expect nothing but excellence and quality from the airforce, which we are very proud of.”

Vice President of Boeing Ms Mary Monica said the PAC can now work as a team member of the company and can also compete for future works.

She said the PAC would be a member of Boeing’s global supply chain and can provide quality parts at competitive prices.

The PAC has achieved the certification of Boeing Quality Management System (BQMS) for the offset project valued at US 95 million dollars and has received orders
for manufacture of 502 parts by Nov 2006. Boeing is to purchase parts from the PAC till August 2010,under an agreement which could be extended for another two
years.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar, Minister of State for Defence, Habibullah Warraich, Minister for Defence Production, Minister of State for Defence Zahid Hamid and Minister of State for Environment Amin Aslam Khan.

Earlier, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat received the Prime Minister at the Minhas Air Base.

He was briefed about the working and expansion plans of the PAC Kamra by the Chairman of PAC Board Air Marshal Aurangzeb.

The Prime Minister also witnessed the agreement signing ceremony for the manufacture of parts for Boeing by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.

Thats what pakistan will be doing. Just importing the kits & assembling them. Nothing more or less.

Starting with 50% of the airframe, eventually 100% of it will be manufactured in Pakistan.

Some excerpts from older articles :

“AVM Sahid Lateef said in the first phase, Pakistan would achieve fifty per cent target of its local manufacturing which will be followed by 100 cent indigenous production of the aircraft with the help of transfer of technology from China. He said it would be first high level transfer of technology to Pakistan and added that by mid of 2006 Pakistan would manufacture 16 aircraft, out of which 8 would be for China.” ( 2004-04-16 )

“The official said 50 per cent of the airframe would initially be manufactured in Pakistan and it would progressively be enhanced to 100 per cent. Similarly, cooperation with original equipment manufacturers would be expanded over a period of time for co-production of avionics systems. Twenty-two avionics systems would be co-produced at PAC including radar, self-protection jammer, high-tech flight control and mission computers. The PAC chairman said the JF-17 project would ensure availability of an affordable and sustainable weapon system for the PAF capable of meeting its operational requirements. He said a new technical manpower of 3,000 personnel would be created only for the project of JF-17.” ( May 18, 2005 )

Is it for this reason that only pakistan refers to the jet as “joint-fighter” and has named it Joint Fighter – 17 while China has only calls it FC-1 / Xiao Long (?)

Another question : I know about the advantages of DSI, but what advantages/benefits does LREX provide ?

The Joint Fighter-17 is a similar notation as the term Joint Strike Fighter.

Pakistani financial contribution is known. It has a 50% investment in development. But the technical contribution of Pakistani technicians to the JF-17 is unknown. They chose the smart path of joint venturing with China, this way they get to learn as much as they have to without risking a limping/under-delivered/Cash Crunched project.

This way they get the technical know how to make this aircraft the most cost-effective way. Just like how DRDO after spending billions,now made a smart move by inviting int’l firms to develop the Kaveri for them.

Its good for third world countries like India and Pakistan to minimize their defence expenditure as much as they can to feed the millions of hungry within their country.

Here is the video. Enjoy :

http://jczs.sina.com.cn/2006-02-25/1952353410.html

Any chinese member please translate . 🙂

Here is a translation of the video thanks to the Chinese members on http://www.pakistanidefenceforum.com

translation:

prototype 04 (pt04) is about to take its maiden fly, pt04 will be the first flight which equipted with full suit of chinese avionics.

the lead designer, yang wei said that, there’re 3 large LED screens in cockpit shown to the pilot, the MPD can gather the infomation of tens of equipments installed on the flight and meanwhile take control of them, it is completely a new design, only latest f16 has the similar layout.

the avionic device are generally 2 times more capable (esp. of detection range and tracing capability) than any simlar facilities installed on 2nd gen flight. although great success has been made, we had difficult times, the avionics research issue was the heart problem 5 years ago.

a professional lab for pt04 was built and huge amount of data has been recorded and analysed during simulation testing, as a result we were able catch up with the western standard as soon as possible. in this year, the flights will be export to foreign customers with full tech transfer.

other sceenshots of the JF-17 Cockpit MFD’s

FC-1 cockpit pics. Posted in CDF by Tigershark, from CCTV clippings. Diagram of conventional plane layout on the MFD puts this as FC-1 not J-10.

One more photo of the Joint Fighter 17 Cockpit Layout