BAF technicians overhaul first supersonic fighter jet

[The Ronin]

Bangladesh Air Force technicians readied for operation a supersonic fighter craft overhauling the jet independently, a task they accomplished for the first time on their own.

The supersonic fighter craft was handed over today for operation after the overhauling process at a ceremony at BAF Base Bangabandhu while it was joined by the prime minister’s security adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique as the chief guest.

Chief of air staff Air Marshal Masihuzzaman Serniabat, senior BAF officials and Chinese embassy representatives were also present on the occasion.

‘It (Aircraft overhaul) is a great success for our country…It will not only save our money and time but also ends the hassle of overhauling in other countries,’ Siddique said.

The BAF chief, on the other hand, called the event a big success of the air force and great achievement of the nation towards attaining the Vision 2041 set by prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

‘We can save 30 to 40 per cent money by overhauling aircraft on our own without any foreign technical support. It also saves out time as well,’ he later told BSS on the sidelines of the event.

Serniabat said generally it takes a year for overhauling an aircraft if it is sent abroad ‘but now it took us only 8 months to accomplish the task.’

He thanked the Chinese government for their cooperation in the fields of air security in particular and expected the bilateral ties to be strengthened further in future.

BAF and Chinese technicians were previously carrying out the overhauling of F-7 BAF for the past few years under joint initiatives.

The government launched ‘Bangladesh Aeronautical Center’ at BAF Base Bangabandhu on December, 2011 for enhancing the maintenance capability of BAF.

http://www.newagebd.net/article/49742/baf-technicians-overhaul-first-supersonic-fighter-jet

 

[mb444]

Good first step. China offered to relocate their entire F7 production line to BD.... we rejected it on the basis that f7s are too old. We have bought bugger all since then. If we had a production line of F7 imagine technically where we would be. At the very least we could have added lots of F7s to the fleet... admittedly these would not be able to stand against 4th generation aircrafts but atleast as interceptors they would have provided some deterrence.

 

[khanasifm]

Good first step. China offered to relocate their entire F7 production line to BD.... we rejected it on the basis that f7s are too old. We have bought bugger all since then. If we had a production line of F7 imagine technically where we would be. At the very least we could have added lots of F7s to the fleet... admittedly these would not be able to stand against 4th generation aircrafts but atleast as interceptors they would have provided some deterrence.

Production line is for new ac if baf is not adding new Ac at the time or for one or two sqn max you cannot cost justify production line

 

[mb444]

Production line is for new ac if baf is not adding new Ac at the time or for one or two sqn max you cannot cost justify production line

China offered it free as they were decommissioning it. Under normal circumstances it would not have made any sense but given BDs technical capability this would have given us a base to build from. If we had it we could have added atleast 4-8 F7s per year. For any other airforce adding F7s would have been a laughable proposition but one look at BAF inventory and it is easy to conclude that was one hell of a missed opportunity.

It would have been F7 but to have experience of end to end fighter aircraft build is not something that is easily achievable and BAF won’t get that opportunity again unless it partners up with someone.

 

[Bilal9]

Bangladesh Air Force technicians readied for operation a supersonic fighter craft overhauling the jet independently, a task they accomplished for the first time on their own.

The supersonic fighter craft was handed over today for operation after the overhauling process at a ceremony at BAF Base Bangabandhu while it was joined by the prime minister’s security adviser Tarique Ahmed Siddique as the chief guest.

Chief of air staff Air Marshal Masihuzzaman Serniabat, senior BAF officials and Chinese embassy representatives were also present on the occasion.

‘It (Aircraft overhaul) is a great success for our country…It will not only save our money and time but also ends the hassle of overhauling in other countries,’ Siddique said.

The BAF chief, on the other hand, called the event a big success of the air force and great achievement of the nation towards attaining the Vision 2041 set by prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

‘We can save 30 to 40 per cent money by overhauling aircraft on our own without any foreign technical support. It also saves out time as well,’ he later told BSS on the sidelines of the event.

Serniabat said generally it takes a year for overhauling an aircraft if it is sent abroad ‘but now it took us only 8 months to accomplish the task.’

He thanked the Chinese government for their cooperation in the fields of air security in particular and expected the bilateral ties to be strengthened further in future.

BAF and Chinese technicians were previously carrying out the overhauling of F-7 BAF for the past few years under joint initiatives.

The government launched ‘Bangladesh Aeronautical Center’ at BAF Base Bangabandhu on December, 2011 for enhancing the maintenance capability of BAF.

http://www.newagebd.net/article/49742/baf-technicians-overhaul-first-supersonic-fighter-jet

China offered it free as they were decommissioning it. Under normal circumstances it would not have made any sense but given BDs technical capability this would have given us a base to build from. If we had it we could have added atleast 4-8 F7s per year. For any other airforce adding F7s would have been a laughable proposition but one look at BAF inventory and it is easy to conclude that was one hell of a missed opportunity.

It would have been F7 but to have experience of end to end fighter aircraft build is not something that is easily achievable and BAF won’t get that opportunity again unless it partners up with someone.

Excellent post and I concur 100%. So if the line (and panel tooling) are still available maybe this could have been explored. The F-7 line was really milked to the max but the design still had lots of potential. They used it to produce the double delta variants (MG/PG/BG) and even the FT-2000 supersonic trainer.

You could modify this further, substitute the outer aircraft panels with CFRP/GFRP to reduce weight and even put in special pods/packages and conformal fuel tanks (underslung like the F-15 or over the wing/fuselage join a la the F-16 Block 50 plus). Or modify the spine for electronics storage like the F-16.

Rafale and Eurofighter both offer conformal tanks now

 

[Homo Sapiens]

Very good job indeed by BAF. Any step towards indigenization is a big welcome.

 

[Imran Khan]

i think china will not to do it .j7 time was over 1n 2003

 

[Bengal Tiger 71]

BD have the good relation with British govt. from long time. why BD always depend only this coalition Russia & China for weapons. at least BAF need to have their fleet 1 sqd. typhoon. BD needs to keep strategic relation about defence sector with Russia,China & also with western.

 

[Homo Sapiens]