Myanmar angry with Pakistan over unfit fighter jets supplied by Islamabad Report

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Myanmar angry with Pakistan over 'unfit' fighter jets supplied by Islamabad: Report

In Reports
11:28 AM, Sep 04, 2023
Myind Staff

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.

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 selling heavy 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-17s have 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 requires high-operational maintenance while costing a fortune to the exchequer, compared to most modern military aircraft.

Image Source: Republic World

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