During this time, the Pakistan Air Force went all the way to Versailles after obtaining the Thunder III and J-10CE, first defeated the American-made F16 and F-15 with the Thunder III in the "Indus Shield" exercise, and later sent the J-10CE to Qatar to play on the field, and Pakistan claimed to have won 9:0.
If this game continues, the Pakistan Air Force will taste the sweetness of replacing the new generation of China's air combat system, but it is far from ending. Because the Pakistani Air Force generals then expressed their willingness to purchase FC-31 fighter jets, which will make Pakistan Railway hope to become the only country among Islamic countries to be equipped with ** fighters.
For Pakistan, which has limited economic strength, the modernization of its air force is inseparable from the funding of the Middle East tyrant countries, which requires it to show its strength in various exercises, and after flexing its muscles to good effect, Pakistan seems to have an even greater ambition: it plans to stop production of Thunder fighters.
According to domestic sources, the country plans to stop producing new Thunder III fighter jets after 2025 and instead will spend more resources to buy more J-10CE and FC-31 fighter jets. Pakistan currently has nearly 160 Thunders, including three models.
If production continues until 2025, it is expected that the overall equipment scale will reach more than 200 aircraft, which is quite a lot for a medium-sized country. According to Pakistan's ** news, the suspension of production does not mean shutting down the production line, but turning to the modification of the early Thunder I and Thunder II fighters, so that they can be equipped with active phased array radar, capable of Thunderbolt-15 air-to-air missiles, etc. **.
The Pakistan Air Force positions the Thunder as a multi-role fighter that is mainly responsible for ground strike missions. The Thunder III will be used to replace the J-7P and J-7PG equipped with Pakistan. Once it has more than 200 Thunders in the future, its precision strike capabilities on the ground and sea will surpass those of the Indian Air Force in an all-round way.
The J-10CE was originally intended to replace Pakistan's F-16 fighters, but after preparing to purchase the FC-31, there was a new change. The J-10CE will be used to replace the Mirage-3 and Mirage-5 fighters, while the FC-31 will be used to replace the American-made F-16.
Compared with the Thunder III, the J-10CE has better flight performance, larger bomb load, range and better airborne equipment, and its air combat positioning is more prominent. When the FC-31 arrives in Pakistan, it is likely to be a multi-functional fighter, that is, to undertake the task of seizing air supremacy and carrying out penetrating ground strikes.
According to the progress of the FC-31 test in China, it is entirely possible that the Pakistan Air Force will start to install the land-based version around 2025, which coincides with the discontinuation of the Thunder Dragon in this way. And once Pakistan has the F-31, considering that it is almost impossible for the air force to obtain the best fighter before 2035, it means that the Pakistani air force will have up to 10 years of crushing air superiority.
And this cycle may last for decades, if not forever, because of the failure of India's stealth fighter development program. After India purchases the S-400, it is impossible to obtain the F-35, while Pakistan can obtain the FC-31 from China, which is constantly improving, and this gap will only continue to widen.
List of high-quality authors It should be noted that if Pakistan receives funding from the Arab countries of the Middle East on the issue of procuring the best fighter jets, there will be no serious financial difficulties.
Pakistan now has 76 F-16s, and these aircraft are nearing the end of their lifespan, and if they are determined to replace them with FC-31s, the purchase could exceed 40 aircraft. If it is determined to replace it with both the J-10CE and the FC-31, the size of its procurement may also exceed 24.
The future Pakistan Air Force has the AWACS ZDK03 developed by China, the ** fighter FC-31, the semi-** fighter J-10CE and 3The 5th generation Thunder III, which is an absolute crushing leader among Islamic countries in the world, is a cross-generation technological suppression of India, which can be said to be very strong.