SOURCE: RAUNAK KUNDE / NEWS BEAT / IDRW.ORG
The biggest export operator of the JF-17 fighter jet, Myanmar Air Force has grounded the majority of its 16 JF-17 fighter jets due to a lack of spares and technical issues due to which Pakistani Air force Transport aircraft was rushed to Mingaladon Air Force Station in Yangon with spares last month and a team of 15 technical experts of the Pakistan Air Force is scheduled to visit Myanmar soon.
PAF team will also be setting up a JF-17 simulator for training pilots of the Myanmar Air Force, PAF team will also be helping the ground crew of the Myanmar Air Force to get back in air some of the jets that were grounded due to technical issues with the airframe of the aircraft. China’s CAIG’s production facility at Chengdu-Huangtianba where this JF-17s were built recently requested PAF to send their ground crew after Chinese administration denied them for travel.
Myanmar Air Force operates 16 Block II that were delivered in 2018 and in less than four years it has been facing a string of technical issues due to RD-93 engines, in part due to U.S. sanctions on the Russian supplier agency. Pakistan air force-operated JF-17s equipped with KLJ-7 radars have been plagued by several operational issues and continue to experience a high failure rate, media reports also indicate many structural issues that have also dogged the JF-17 fleet.
Myanmar and Pakistan have strained relations after Pakistan’s government and Islamic groups have criticized Myanmar for its “persecution” of the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.
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