Interview Questions for JF-17 Program

[Irfan Baloch]

We have a rare opportunity to get a personal insight and personal view of one of the pioneers of the JF-17 program. he was the original head of the countermeasures (EW) suit concept and development of this program

use this thread to post your questions

I will request a general over all brief about the program how and at what level he was involved and its evolution from the original concept to all the challenges and milestones achieved leading to the block 3 and beyond. of course he has long retired but he will give enough insight to everyone's interest.

depending on the quality of questions and what can be shared publicly I will conduct a second part of the interview through his help to speak to those who are heading different elements of this program

all questions will be posed to him and there is a chance that some information maybe classified so I will get better alternative questions for a useful and interesting interview for all defense Aviation buffs.

there is no set timeline for this interview but we have to send out a proforma questions to him originally to setup a time and conduct a though interview and it will be definitely be different from the cringe worthy tv programs done where the hosts have no clue about the subject matter and they are painful to watch


so fire away. dont worry about repeated questions as we will compile them and group them according to their subject and then use them in the interview.


thanks

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

• Do you have ultra-fast receivers and transmitters, covering a wide band of spectrum, as a part of the EW suit?
• Do you develop, modify and update the algorithms in-house?
• Are you leveraging the capabilities of AESA type systems which come with GaN type devices?
• Can you do electrical/materials etc. characterization of GaN type devices in-house?
• Can you ask for the spec changes in GaN type devices as per the requirement of your algorithms?

 

[Sine Nomine]

Q-1
Any considerations regarding CFT.
Q-2
Any considerations regarding development of JFT into Gripen-NG like platform(moving main landing gear into wings,thus creating more space into body)
Q-3
Any signs about intgration of IRST system and HOBS Missile+HMD on JFT.

 

[war&peace]

1. Tentative dates of block-III test flights, production and induction
2. Will Blk I & II be upgraded with AESA radar and will it be the same as in Blk-III
3. Any structural changes in block-III and what are those
4. Will block 3 be followed by block IV
5. Any of the 5th gen techs from Prj Azm/ J31 will make a way into block-III
6. What engine will in block III RD-33 MK or WS10 etc and any plans to upgrade engines in previous blocks
7. Will there be a western avionics package for export models

You can decided what is classified info in response to these questions.

 

[MilSpec]

I have a rare opportunity to get a personal insight and personal view of one of the pioneers of the JF-17 program. he was the original head of the countermeasures (EW) suit concept and development of this program

use this thread to post your questions

I will request a general over all brief about the program how and at what level he was involved and its evolution from the original concept to all the challenges and milestones achieved leading to the block 3 and beyond. of course he has long retired but he will give enough insight to everyone's interest.

depending on the quality of questions and what can be shared publicly I will conduct a second part of the interview through his help to speak to those who are heading different elements of this program

all questions will be posed to him and there is a chance that some information maybe classified so I will get better alternative questions for a useful and interesting interview for all defense Aviation buffs.

there is no set timeline for this interview but I have to send out a proforma questions to him originally to setup a time and conduct a though interview and I will definitely want this to be different from the cringe worthy tv programs done where the hosts have no clue about the subject matter and they are painful to watch


so fire away. dont worry about repeated questions as I will compile them and group them according to their subject and then use them in the interview.


thanks

Irfaan Saab,
hope you are doing well, following would be the things I would be curious about.

>MTBF for RD93
>Main Landing gear life - hrs
>Air-frame life
>Flare type and dispersion pattern if any.
>Cooling system for Radar (liquid cooled- BPHE, PFHE or Air Cooled or combination ACS)
>General explanation of optic spine integration, device interface challenges, any special unique LLIDS .

 

[Jinn Baba]

- Any regrets? E.g. should have made it larger or twin engine or something different.

- Did PAF ever regret joining this programme over J10?

- When you set off to work on this programme, what were the expectations? And does the plane in Block 2 meet those expectations? Or is something left (e.g. more range, power, etc)

- What has been and is now PACs contribution to the JF17 programme? What parts are we involved in? What do we bring to the table?

 

[wulff]

I have a few questions:

1. The airframe as it exists today is a product of Chinese (Chengdu's) design capabilities of the late 1990s. Basically a 20 year old conservative design, and not competitive to the aircraft it will fight against (Rafale, Su-30MKI) or the aircraft it will compete against (JAS-39E/F Gripen, F-CK-1). What is the reason the airframe has not received any updates in last 20 years.

2. The aircraft will be flying against an advanced and highly integrated enemy IADS. Why has there not been any consideration been given to the incorporation of advanced towed decoys and expendable decoys, considering the massive increase in survivability the aircraft can gain from these relatively straightforward additions.

3. The lack of an IRST is extremely concerning. How can the PAF be confident of the radar working in the presence of advanced israeli and french jamming equipment the IAF's EW aircraft and fighter airfraft assets are equipped with. Even if the radar and datalinks aren't completely jammed, the enemy jamming will degrade the radar's detection/tracking range to a fraction of the original range. Why has an IRST been ignored given the high likelihood of such a scenario?

4. Why has the PAF not equipped the JF-17 with any 5g wvraam till date? Both MAA-1b, A-Darter and PL-10E can be equipped for a price that the PAF can easily afford, and even in the absence of an advanced HMD/S to take full advantage of the full off boresight capability, the missiles' kinematic performance by itself should have justified integration of such missile(s) at the earliest.

5. Would adding rough field takeoff and landing capability to the JF-17 (like the IAF Jaguars have) give any meaningful survivability advantage to the aircraft? would addition of such a landing gear be feasible for this aircraft?

thanks

 

[Irfan Baloch]

thank you all
grateful for touching different elements.
although it seems that some of the questions might be beyond his scope but its no harm putting those to him as he can take a view or get back to me afterwords after asking his colleagues who covered those elements

 

[BATMAN]

It's already public but ask for confirmation, if blk-III have 4.5 generation avionics?

 

[CriticalThought]

1. What are the specific contributions of Pakistani engineers into the design of JF-17?

2. Does the contract allow us to independently modify any part of the Thunder?

3. For other well known fighter jets, turn rates are publicly available. What is the official sustained and instantaneous turn rate of the Thunder?

4. Similarly, DACT videos of other fighters are widely available. It would send out a message if DACT video between Thunder and F-16 is made available.

5. Emerging EW threats include the CHAMP missile. Is there any plan to ensure survivability in case of EMP attack? One possibility is the use of fibre optics for information buses. Are there any plans for this?

6. A single engine fighter under 100kN thrust will always be power limited for EW. Are there any plans for pairing Thunder with an AEWACS providing jamming capabilities?

7. In a networked environment, even transport planes can act as bomb trucks with Thunder as the spearhead guiding the launches. Any plans for this?

8. WVR capability has been limited by unavailability of HMD/S. What are the plans for this?

9. Circa 2016 there was a lot of talk about RD-93MA. What is the status?

10. What are PAC's plans to acquire facilities for indigenous design, such as wind tunnels, super computers for simulations, EM anechoic chambers for testing stealth designs?

11. During IDEAS 2018, we heard about Block 2 C. What is meant by the C designation? And were there A and B designations before that?

 

[war&peace]

- Any regrets? E.g. should have made it larger or twin engine or something different.

No, he doesn't have any regrets.

 

[CriticalThought]

12. Currently PAC has a workshare of 58%. Any plans to increase it to 100%?

 

[Irfan Baloch]

• Do you have ultra-fast receivers and transmitters, covering a wide band of spectrum, as a part of the EW suit?
• Do you develop, modify and update the algorithms in-house?
• Are you leveraging the capabilities of AESA type systems which come with GaN type devices?
• Can you do electrical/materials etc. characterization of GaN type devices in-house?
• Can you ask for the spec changes in GaN type devices as per the requirement of your algorithms?

sure thanks

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Just one question which needs a clear answer, CAN JF17 BLK3 WILL BE ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY OPERATE IN OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS IN THE JOINT RAFAEL AND S-400 THREAT ENVIRONMENT OR NOT?

 

[patriotpakistan]

I know I'm only a junior member, but please ask these questions:

1. How much did aesthetics go into the design making? (considering there are ways to make something beautifully crafted without sacrificing performance i.e French & US designs)

2. Any plans to apply RAM stealth coatings to JF-17?

3. Any plans for conformal fuel tanks?

4. Any plans for a dedicated EW Growler type JF-17 platform for Wild Weasel/SEAD missions?

5. What specific parts are Pakistani designed? (A colour shaded diagram of the aircraft would be great)

6. Why wasn't an IRIS integrated into the JF-17 and is the aircraft deficient in that area without one?

7. Why are there so many pitot-static probes on the nose? Could there be a better design for those like the F-16 has?

8. What has been done to mitigate risks of enemy intelligence finding out the JF-17's weaknesses from the countries that the JF-17 has been sold to or planned to be sold to?

9. How well are the identities of the Pakistani scientists involved protected against an Iran type assassination situation?

10. Can Pakistani scientists design and manufacture a fighter aircraft completely by themselves as of today?