The Egyptian Air Force is currently retiring large numbers of its second and third generation fighters; F-7, MiG-21, the Mirage-5, and the worn out F-16s from a fleet of more than 200 fighter jets, plus the not upgraded 15 Mirage-2000 fighter jets.
Certainly, the acquisition of new French and Russian fighter planes such as Rafale and Mig-35 in limited numbers will not suffice to bridge that large gap in the number of fighters assigned to the disengagement. The Egyptian Air Force is looking for a low-cost fighter, and given the situation of the Egyptian economy, which is still in the beginning of the stages of improvement and recovery, the Egyptian Air Force is looking for a low-cost fighter to achieve quantity and quality that it has acquired in the modern French and Russian fighter jets, which can not be purchased in large numbers because of the expensive cost factor This trend is reinforced by the fact that the third and most modern JF-17 fighter Block cost $ 30 million against more than $ 50 million for the Russian MIG 35 and more than $ 100 million for the French RAFALE.
The Egyptian Air Force has expressed interest in acquiring the JF-17 fighter since it appeared to light years ago. However, the unstable political situation, after January 25, 2011, and the unavailability of funding necessitated to stop the talks momentarily. The Egyptian Air Force expressed many reservations regarding the technical specifications of Block I and Block II of the Chinese fighter - made by Pakistan with a license - and was hoping for a more sophisticated version of its predecessors.
In the view of the Chinese side, the upcoming JF-17 Block-3 has greatly improved. It has received qualitative modifications including the AESA active radar matrix, increased internal load of fuel, weapon load, increased wing area and tail set, and integrated navigation system. A more sophisticated electronic warfare package and a new armament package that will include the medium-range PL-15E, which can have a range of up to 200 km and pose a huge threat to AWACS.
So in light of what has been said: Given the capabilities of the Chinese fighter and its presence in the category of Light Combat Aircraft LCA and not medium and heavy fighters such as F-16 and Su-35. And given the accurate information in the news board about the current situation of the Egyptian Air Force, we can say that the possibility of acquiring the fierce dragon FC-1 or JF 17 Thunder as called by Pakistan, with production and local assembly is very logical, for the following reasons:
- To replace huge numbers of Egyptian Air Force fighters due to retire with more than 200 fighters, and in the presence of a fleet of F-16 fighter jets unlikely to be upgraded to a level beyond the Block 52 and will not reach the standard Viper because of the decision of the United States since 2015 not to provide Egypt with a qualitative weapon, more directed weapon against terrorism and countering atypical threats, limiting the Egyptian F-16's capabilities compared to those operating in the service of other air weapons, especially the Israeli Air Force.
- In view of the current acquisitions of the EAF (24 fighter jets expected to increase to 36-48 fighters), the MIG-35 (52 fighters) and the S-35 (expected to be 29 fighters), these numbers are good in terms of quality given the technical development of the above-mentioned models and their allocation to specific tasks, but would not be sufficient to quantify the gap due to the enormous gap referred to earlier.
- Hence, The JF-17 won't be assessed in terms of performance and technical specifications as a first priority, as in the case of medium and heavy fighters. The evaluation will be more focused on the economic and practical aspects because it provides all the conditions mentioned as in the low cost of $ 30 million and thus the possibility of numerical density/quantity..
- The Thunder / Fierce Dragon will serve as a work horse for the Egyptian Air Force to carry out tasks that do not require the use of more expensive types of other fighters that will carry out the main and most dangerous combat tasks, as well as intensifying pilots' training to increase the number of flying hours. Flight hours will not be less than 1,000 hours, for example, as soon as possible and as low cost as possible, and thus pilots become eligible to work on other major air force fighters.
- It is certain that the Thunder will bring with it a complete Chinese armament with the lowest possible political restraints compared to other countries. The Chinese ammunition and missiles themselves are the least expensive in the world (as well as the Pakistani munitions themselves based on the transfer of technical knowledge from China as "Ra'ad" . And the Chinese combat platforms are ready to integrate the Russian armament very easily, which is also characterized by the cost of less than the western counterpart, and contribute to a greater variety of ammunition and missiles, which is not available in this form in the Western platforms..
- The JF-17 will represent the last line of defense of the state in the view of large numbers with the intensive use of various types of munitions at a very economical cost, while the high accuracy and tolerance capabilities of the Western missiles will be compensated by the greater numerical intensity of the Chinese missiles.
- In the event of agreement on co-production, the thunder could be a launch pad for Egypt in the production of a fighter aircraft or even the production of precision parts and components in the aviation industry, as well as the manufacture of smart munitions and missiles, and opens up new horizons in complex military industries.
Thus, the Egyptian Air Force will achieve the required balance in the quantity and quality of high-low-mix with the possession of an air fleet of combat aircraft, which enable it to carry out all the tasks required, and a large variety of weapons systems of different nationalities, which constitute a huge burden on the opponents, which will have to prepare and equip to deal with different types of munitions, unlike if they were from a source or two at a maximum, especially if the source is the US...
