Bangladesh Considering Procurement of Chinese JF-17 Block III Fighters: High-Low Pairing with J-10C Planned?
Chief of General Staff of the Bangladesh Armed Forces Lieutenant General S M Kamrul Hassan has led a defence delegation to the Pakistan Air Force Headquarters in Islamabad to meet Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, where talks were held on strengthening bilateral defence ties. During talks Lieutenant General Hassan expressed a strong interest in the JF-17 fighter jet, with Bangladesh planning to send an official delegation to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the aircraft. The JF-17 is manufactured in both China and Pakistan, and while almost all of its technologies are of Chinese origin, the large majority of fighters produced have been built for the Pakistan Air Force. The most complex parts of the aircraft including its radar, engine and avionics suite are built in China. Following its first flight in December 2019 the JF-17 Block III has demonstrated tremendous advances over previous variants, with the aircraft considered a ‘4+ generation’ fighter with fifth generation level avionics and weaponry. The aircraft has benefitted considerably from advanced technologies developed for the J-20 fifth generation fighter, which provide capabilities well in advance of older fourth generation aircraft.
Alongside the JF-17 Block III, Bangladesh Air Force Air Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan in December confirmed that the service is exploring the possibility of acquiring J-10C fighter aircraft. The JF-17 Block III is a lighter aircraft with much lower procurement and operational costs and similarly advanced avionics and weapons, although its flight performance is far inferior and its radar is considerably smaller and less powerful than that of the J-10C. The Pakistan Air Force currently deploys both fighter classes as part of a high-low combination, with the JF-17 filling out the bulk of its large fleet while the J-10C is fielded in a smaller number of more elite units. Bangladesh is speculated to be planning to replicate this combination, fielding the JF-17 Block III to replace its J-7 fighters, and the J-10C to replace its larger Russian MiG-29s. The J-10C has proven capable of outperforming some of the world’s heaviest fighters in air to air combat, with the aircraft reported in 2020 to have consistently outperformed the Russian Su-35 in simulated engagements. With Bangladesh’s neighbours India and Myanmar both relying heavily on the Russian Su-30 and MiG-29, inducting the J-10C and JF-17 Block III would provide more sophisticated aircraft with significantly superior weaponry.
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