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JF-17 Block-3 -- Updates, News & Discussion

So the aircraft length is 7 feet ?
What's that?
So the aircraft empty weight has increased from 14520 Lb to 15290 Lb?
How?
Also engine thrust remains the same and both take off and maximum weights have increased, but ferry range has increased .
I call this B.S
What's the source of this picture?
 
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Unlikely the PAF would buy it, but getting Mac Jee's help on future PGBs could be of interest.

Shame the PAF and Pakistan in general aren’t taking firms that are open to helping seriously. However, those same firms are getting insane amounts of attention from big name players in the gulf
 
So the aircraft length is 7 feet ?
What's that?
So the aircraft empty weight has increased from 14520 Lb to 15290 Lb?
How?
Also engine thrust remains the same and both take off and maximum weights have increased, but ferry range has increased .
I call this B.S
What's the source of this picture?
Ferry range is the same as before.

MTOW and Maximum load capacity has been increased by strengthening the airframe and the hardpoints, as well as adding another hardpoint. The empty weight was bound to increase anyways with the new radar, new MAWS, new avionics, new EW suite and so on.

They don’t need to replace the engine or increase thrust to change these parameters, 84.4KN of thrust is more than enough for this MTOW and Carrying capacity, Tejas can carry even more with the same thrust (though they’d down to its Delta-wing design, which consequently won’t be as good for maneuvering). A new engine would still be good for the JF-17 however, it’s the weakest point of the aircraft now that everything else is upgraded in block 3 (not calling it bad, just relatively weaker than it could be).

The source is PAC. It’s from their booth at the Dubai air show, it’s as authentic as it gets.
 
Shame the PAF and Pakistan in general aren’t taking firms that are open to helping seriously. However, those same firms are getting insane amounts of attention from big name players in the gulf
We dropped the ball on Denel and South Africa. Yes, it'd cost money to basically transplant their operations to Pakistan. But we're talking about shifting people, IP, and other non-capital-intensive elements. While the UAE can drop dimes, it'll never overpay for anything. Despite being a Gulf state, the UAE is ruthlessly pragmatic. I guarantee you we wasted a lot more money in the last 5 years than whatever the UAE spent to transfer Denel's organs into EDGE Group, Halcon, etc.

I go back to my articles about the Marlin LRAAM. I get that it wouldn't have been as long-range as the PL-15E. Fair. But it would've given us more independence in how to configure the JF-17 Block-3. It also would've helped build an R&D base for future DPMR technology which, in 5, 10, or 15 years, could translate into a cutting-edge AAM as good as any other available to us on the world market. Instead of paying a pretty dime for the Albatros-NG, we could've been developing a 60+ km range SAM based on the Marlin and Umkhonto. I don't even need to take note of South Africa's prior work on ramjet applications.

We're even talking about the JF-17's engine. Well, Ukraine thinks it can develop an RD-93-type engine. We can call it vaporware or "just an illustration," but Ukraine's R&D foundations are leagues ahead of Pakistan. Their 'vapourware' can materialize into substance because they know how to do it. We don't. Worse, we don't want to put our money towards learning or building those foundations. We can literally see what UAE and KSA are doing.

Unless we have leaders who just say, "enough is enough of this garbage," our future involves taking out loans to buy Chinese weapons. God knows no one's even doing anything to change our fiscal state so that we don't fall further into debt. Our military capability will gradually diminish relative to others because there's only so much you can buy with a PKR perpetually losing its value. One answer to our problem, perhaps, is the fact that to build a strong indigenous defence industry, you need strong economic thinking. Our economic thinking is woefully weak, so the R&D culture, industries, etc all mirror it.


1636994525496.png
 
We dropped the ball on Denel and South Africa. Yes, it'd cost money to basically transplant their operations to Pakistan. But we're talking about shifting people, IP, and other non-capital-intensive elements. While the UAE can drop dimes, it'll never overpay for anything. Despite being a Gulf state, the UAE is ruthlessly pragmatic. I guarantee you we wasted a lot more money in the last 5 years than whatever the UAE spent to transfer Denel's organs into EDGE Group, Halcon, etc.

I go back to my articles about the Marlin LRAAM. I get that it wouldn't have been as long-range as the PL-15E. Fair. But it would've given us more independence in how to configure the JF-17 Block-3. It also would've helped build an R&D base for future DPMR technology which, in 5, 10, or 15 years, could translate into a cutting-edge AAM as good as any other available to us on the world market. Instead of paying a pretty dime for the Albatros-NG, we could've been developing a 60+ km range SAM based on the Marlin and Umkhonto. I don't even need to take note of South Africa's prior work on ramjet applications.

We're even talking about the JF-17's engine. Well, Ukraine thinks it can develop an RD-93-type engine. We can call it vaporware or "just an illustration," but Ukraine's R&D foundations are leagues ahead of Pakistan. Their 'vapourware' can materialize into substance because they know how to do it. We don't. Worse, we don't want to put our money towards learning or building those foundations. We can literally see what UAE and KSA are doing.

Unless we have leaders who just say, "enough is enough of this garbage," our future involves taking out loans to buy Chinese weapons. God knows no one's even doing anything to change our fiscal state so that we don't fall further into debt. Our military capability will gradually diminish relative to others because there's only so much you can buy with a PKR perpetually losing its value. One answer to our problem, perhaps, is the fact that to build a strong indigenous defence industry, you need strong economic thinking. Our economic thinking is woefully weak, so the R&D culture, industries, etc all mirror it.


View attachment 793546
I do wonder though what would had happened if our planners had chosen to invest in "farming" this IP. The realist/pessimist in me thinks something like this would have happened:
1636996674290.png


UAE and KSA have shown the capacity to make smart investments and manage them well. We have not.
 
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