The Chinese-made J10C fighter jet has been formally added to the Pakistan Air Force fleet.
On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan attended the inauguration ceremony of J10C aircraft as a special guest.
It may be recalled that Pakistan’s Home Minister Sheikh Rashid had said a few months ago that “India’s J-10 will fly past Pakistan on March 23 as a wreck of the Raphael plane.”
Talks were going on for a long time between Pakistan and China regarding China’s J-10 fighter jet.
How is the J-10 fighter?
The website AviAsia.net, which compares them in terms of the characteristics of different ships, has Dassault Raphael and Chengdu J. What is the comparison of 10? After comparing different features in BVR ratings, Raphael has been declared as ‘excellent’ while J-10 has been declared as ‘very good’.
According to Chinese media reports, the J10 fighter is a Chinese-made fighter jet. Call it Chengdu Jie. Also called 10 or Vegors Dragon. It is a multi-purpose aircraft with an engine capable of flying in all weathers. Its wings are delta style. It has a fly by wire system to control it.
This aircraft usually has a pilot’s seat. It is 52 feet 7 inches long, has a wing size of 30 feet 4 inches, weighs 14,000 kilograms and has a capacity of 4,950 liters of fuel. There are also three external drop tanks with a capacity of 4,000 liters.
The aircraft is capable of carrying off at a weight of 19,277 kg.
Its maximum speed is 2305 km per hour. The aircraft is equipped with aircraft guns, rockets, four types of missiles and various types of bombs including laser guided bombs, satellite guided bombs, glide bombs and unguided bombs.
J. Development of 10
The J10 was developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force in June 1997 and made its maiden flight on March 23, 1998.
It should be noted that the construction of this ship has been going on since 1981.
Later, in 2003, the aircraft was delivered to the training units of the People’s Liberation Army. The design was finalized in 2004 after undergoing various testing stages in the same year. Earlier, rumors were circulating that the plane had crashed during a test flight.
The J-10 became operational in 2006. The Chinese government officially unveiled it in 2007, when a photo of it was first released by the Geneva News Agency.
Then in 2009 the Aviation Industry Corporation of China planned to export the J-10.
The aircraft was offered to Pakistan in 2006 but talks between the two countries continued till 2012.
News has been circulating since September 2020 that Pakistan is interested in purchasing J-10 aircraft.