Fighter deal pulls Pakistan closer into China's orb

(MENAFN- Asia Times)

PESHAWAR – In the first shots of a new South Asian arms race, China has delivered the latest versions of its J-10 multirole tactical fighter aircraft to ally Pakistan. The jets will aim specifically at countering India's improving air combat capabilities, recently enhanced by the procurement of French-made Rafale fighters.

Last week, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) held a ceremony marking the induction of the Chinese-made fighters into its arsenal, which analysts say will significantly boost Islamabad's air defenses and maritime security capabilities. Pakistan is scheduled to take delivery of 25 J-10 fighters from China over the next few years.

The sale brings China and Pakistan closer together strategically in a clear move away from Islamabad's past reliance on the United States. Prime Minister Imran Khan and his army, naval and air force chiefs all attended the ceremony to inspect the aircraft. In a potent photo op, Khan sat in the cockpit of one of the fighters while being briefed on its features.

“J-10C is a fully integrated weapon, avionic and combat system and its induction into the PAF would further strengthen our professional capabilities,” Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu said in his inaugural speech.

It marks the first major induction of a multirole aircraft in the last 40 years, when Pakistan took delivery of US-made F-16s in 1982. China's J-10C is a so-called fifth-generation fighter and can be used for air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-sea operations and is“obviously very significant for the Pakistan air force,” Shahid Reza, an Islamabad-based security analyst, told Asia Times.

He said the fighters will allow Pakistan to employ certain types of new weapons like the Ra'ad air-launched cruise missile which can be used as a significant deterrent against adversaries like India.“This aircraft will increase Pakistan's airborne capability to deliver a certain type of strategic weaponry against its enemies,” he said. 

China's Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times quoted Shi Hong, the executive chief editor of the Chinese magazine Shipborne Weapons, as saying that the J-10C was significantly more powerful than F-16s and that it can rival India's French-made Rafale fighter.

“J-10C is a contender to Rafale. The technical analysis reveals that Rafales and J-10Cs are neck and neck. In some areas, Rafale fares better than J-10C and in some other areas J-10C does better than Rafale. [The] J-10C is even more advanced than the PAF's F-16 Block 52+,” Shahid said, referring to Pakistan's arsenal of aging US fighters.

That nationalistic assessment, of course, is debatable. Defense analysts say that despite all of the J-10C's publicized capabilities it lacks actual combat mission experience, as the Rafale has seen in Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.

Pakistan will formally display the Chinese jets at its Pakistan Day ceremony on March 23, a show of force that will aim to send a strong signal to both India and the United States as Islamabad comes more firmly in China's defense orb.

Earlier, there was debate in both Pakistani and Indian defense circles about Islamabad's ability and intent to buy the Chinese fighter jets considering Pakistan's weakening economy and dire financial straits, with fast dwindling foreign reserves and growing concerns of a possible default.

Pakistan's protracted negotiations with China to restructure billions of dollars worth of its Belt and Road Initiative-related loans, particularly loans owed for built power plants and take-or-pay power contracts, also cast doubt over the J-10C transaction.

Some believed that Pakistan was posturing as part of a strategy to show superficial military strength with no true intent of actually acquiring the Chinese fighters.

The debate started back in December last year when Pakistan's Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed first disclosed that Pakistan had acquired a“full squadron of 25 Chinese multi-role J-10C fighter jets to counter India's purchase of Rafale aircraft.”

Sheikh Rashid has since caused a new stir by predicting in a news conference last week that after the induction of the J-10Cs Pakistan would next seek to procure China's considerably more advanced and expensive J-20C fighter. The J-20C has a price tag of anywhere between US$30 million to $120 million per piece depending on specifications.

The minister's disclosure points to the Pakistan military's soaring ambition to acquire China's top-of-the-line equipment at a time India is drawing closer to the US strategically. However, China has not yet publicly indicated it aims to sell the stealth combat jet, known as the“Mighty Dragon.” That's similar to America's position on its advanced F-22 Raptor.

Pakistan and Turkey have meanwhile suggested that the two countries are collaborating on the indigenous production of a fifth-generation stealth jet to be known as the TF-X. The scheme is a collaboration between Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and Pakistan's National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) and aims to fly a prototype by 2025-26 and begin exports by 2030. 

China and Pakistan have also jointly developed a significant number of JF-17 aircraft to replace Islamabad's aging French-built Mirage III aircraft, which Pakistan acquired back in 1967. Pakistan currently operates about 100 JF-17s in four to six squadrons.

The J-10C, known as the“Vigorous Dragon”, is indigenously designed and built by the Chengdu Aircraft Industry, a subsidy of the China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC I). J-10C multirole fighters are very similar to the Israeli Aircraft Industries' Lavi fighter aircraft, which itself had similarities to and derived technology from the F-16.

Significantly, the J-10C can be armed with laser-guided bombs, anti-ship solid rocket-powered missiles, anti-ship turbojet-powered missiles and anti-radiation missiles. The aircraft is also equipped with a 23mm cannon installed internally on the port side of the forward section of the fuselage above the nose wheel.

The aircraft is fitted with forward-looking infrared and laser target designators, which supports the deployment of laser and satellite navigation guided weapons.

“It has significant Beyond Visual Range (BVR) capabilities, an Active Electronically Scanning Radar (ESR), electronic warfare capabilities, sensor fusion, helmet mounting system, in-air refueling system. In short, the J-10C has all of the fifth-generation warfare capabilities and substantially upgraded the airborne combat capacities of the PAF,” Shahid said.

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