Myanmar junta troubled by 'unfit for operation' Pakistan-made JF-17 fighter jets
Pak JF-17 Thunder
The military junta in Myanmar appears to be miffed with Pakistan as the JF-17 Thunder, a multi-role combat aircraft, supplied by Islamabad to Yangon between 2019 and 2021 has been declared "unfit for operations", according to local Myanmar media reports.
Military junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has expressed his displeasure over the faulty condition of the aircraft, with none of the fighter jets being in operational condition. Currently, Myanmar has 11 JF-17 aircraft, developed jointly by China and Pakistan.
Junta's frustrations have increased, especially after Islamabad dispatched a technical team for repair and maintenance of the aircraft, in a rather clandestine manner, last year.
Nearly five years after they were commissioned, the JF-17s still cannot be used for combat by the Myanmar Air Force because of their subpar accuracy, according to Eurasian Times. Consequently,Myanmar’s Air Force is forced to depend on Russian-made Yak-130 and MiG-29 fighter jets and Chinese K-8 fighters.
Junta caught between rock and a hard place
Isolated by the West, the junta has created a military-industrial partnership with Pakistan at China's behest. However, both countries are notorious for their faulty, plagiarised and cheap tech. The junta has found it the hard way but in the absence of options, all it can do is express displeasure and hope the situation improves.
The grounding of JF-17 jets means that Islamabad's hopes of sellingheavy machine guns, 60 mm and 81 mm mortars and M-79 grenade launchers to Myanmar may have taken a hit as well. Additionally, the country was hoping to sell air-to-surface missiles for the JF-17 jets.
Apart from the horrid run in Myanmar, the JF-17shave had a poor stint in the African nation of Nigeria as well. The Nigerian Airforce (NAF) inducted 15 F-7 NI fighter aircraft in 2009. However, by 2018, six out of the 15 jets had crashed.
Ironically, Pakistan has been struggling with JF-17s as well. Multiple reports have claimed that JF-17 requireshigh-operational maintenance while costing a fortune to the exchequer, compared to most modern military aircraft.
Since the military removed Myanmar’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) in 2021 and overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi, the country has been in perpetual state of crisis.
The country's parallel National Unity Government (NUG), formed out of the ashes of NLD, is currently fighting against the junta. The JF-17 debacle may come as good news for the Resistance forces who may attempt to seize on the initiative.
(With inputs from agencies)
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