SOURCE: ABHOY ROY / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG
Chinese designed and Pakistani manufactured JF-17 fighter jet will not be participating in Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) to be held in Malaysia even though JF-17 is one of the contenders for the supply of 12 (initial) +24 (follow-on) jets for Malaysian light combat aircraft (LCA) requirement for which it has already received requests for information (RFI).
Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) issued the RFIs in January this year and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) offcials were asked by RMAF Air Chief for JF-17 demonstration at LIMA 2019, last year in November which initially was agreed upon.
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad will visit Pakistan on 21-23 March 2019 and also will be the Guest of Honour at the Pakistan Day where JF-17 will be demonstrated in fly past.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd LCA-Tejas, and Russian YAK-130 will be sending their fighter aircraft for demonstration purposes and it will be second-time LCA-Tejas will be demonstrated in the International market after it was first demonstrated in Bahrain three years ago which too was skipped by JF-17 demonstration team after confirmation of LCA-Tejas participation.
Military watchers feel that RMAF requirements are more inclined towards light fighter aircraft with a key focus on air to ground capabilities and which can also act as trainer aircraft to train pilots which are going to give an advantage to FA-50, YAK-130, and LCA-Tejas aircraft more then JF-17.