Talking about military affairs | Stimulated by the conflict in Naka? Azerbaijan urgently purchases "Jilong" fighters.
Recently, Azerbaijani media reported that Azerbaijan Air Force purchased JF-17 Thunderbolt Block3 light fighter (called "Xiaolong" in Chinese) produced by pakistan international airlines Consortium, and the number of purchased fighters is expected to reach 21.
This figure is not even a fraction of the air force of a big country. However, considering that the total number of active fighters of the Azerbaijan Air Force is only 36 (including MIG -29 fighters, MIG -21 fighters, Su -25 attack aircraft, etc.), these 21 JF-17 Block3 fighters will become the absolute main force of the Azerbaijan Air Force after delivery.
Then, why did Azerbaijan purchase JF-17 Block3 fighters in bulk? Is there a deeper meaning behind this incident?
"Xiaolong" Block3 (Pakistan called JF-17 "Thunderbolt" Block3) made its first flight in Chengdu.
The Naka conflict made Afghanistan accelerate the purchase of "Xiaolong"
The author believes that the most direct driving factor for Azerbaijan to get JF-17 Block3 fighter is the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Naka conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. From September 27, 2020 to October 10, 2020, the two sides reached a ceasefire agreement for the first time. However, just a few minutes after the agreement was reached, the armed forces of the two countries clashed again. It was not until November 10 that a comprehensive ceasefire was formally established with the strong intervention of Russia.
However, both Azerbaijan and Armenia are well aware that the ceasefire agreement reached now is only temporary, and since 1989, armed conflicts have broken out between the two countries many times. Moreover, in this Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia suffered a great loss, and only kept control of a few areas such as the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, the Armenian side will never let it go, and it is likely to accumulate strength and wait for the opportunity to retaliate.
In this case, Azerbaijan must be prepared for the next possible conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, so purchasing new fighters from abroad is one of the most powerful preparation measures. You know, on December 30th, 2020, Almugahed Anwar Khan, Chief of Staff of the Pakistan Air Force, just announced that JF-17 Block3 fighter was officially put into mass production in Kamla Aircraft Factory of pakistan international airlines Consortium. Then, according to the time of receiving fighters reported by Azerbaijan’s domestic media, it means that among the first batch of JF-17 Block3 fighters put into mass production, there should be some orders from Azerbaijan’s air force in addition to Pakistan’s own orders.
Moreover, Azerbaijan’s domestic media mentioned that these 21 JF-17 Block3 fighters will be delivered within 10 years, which is indeed a bit too long in terms of time. According to the author’s analysis, on the one hand, compared with the previous Block1/2, JF-17 Block3 fighter does have a larger technological upgrade, so from the beginning, the production speed of pakistan international airlines Kamla Aircraft Factory will be slower, and it will take time to gradually increase the production capacity. On the other hand, it is obvious that Azerbaijan is preparing for the next large-scale armed conflict with a time limit of 10 years.
With the successive delivery of JF-17 Block3 fighters, the oldest and backward MIG -21 combat opportunity in Azerbaijan Air Force was eliminated first. After that, some Su -25 attack aircraft and MIG -29 fighters that have reached their flight life will also be replaced by JF-17 fighters. In this way, if war breaks out between Azerbaijan and Armenia again in 10 years, Azerbaijan’s air force with 21 JF-17 fighters will be able to stand on its own, instead of relying on Turkish air force’s F-16 fighters to fight against Armenian air force.
"Jilong" fighter displayed during Zhuhai Air Show.
The most exciting purchasing factor: high cost performance
In fact, in terms of time, as early as 2015, a country once promoted JF-17 fighters to Azerbaijan, and this country is Turkey, which has always maintained friendly relations with Azerbaijan and Pakistan. At that time, Azerbaijan hoped to purchase a new type of fighter with affordable performance and meeting the requirements in bulk to replace the old fighters in active service of its air force. Turkey wanted this order very much, but it didn’t have a suitable model, so it recommended the JF-17 fighter jet jointly developed by China and Pakistan to Azerbaijan. In that year, pakistan international airlines Kamla Aircraft Factory had completed the production task of Pakistani Air Force JF-17 Thunderbolt Block1, and began to switch to the upgraded Block2. Therefore, the Azerbaijani military inspected JF-17 Thunderbolt Block2 light fighter, and the Turkish side also promised to integrate advanced weapons and equipment such as air-to-ground guided ammunition and photoelectric aiming pods developed and produced in the country on this fighter. In this way, Turkish military enterprises can also take a slice of the contract for purchasing JF-17Block2 light fighters from Azerbaijan.
By the beginning of 2019, after more than four years of "running-in", Azerbaijan’s negotiations with Pakistan and Turkey on purchasing JF-17 fighter jets have begun to enter the implementation stage of specific details. However, unexpectedly, on December 27th, 2019, Armenia couldn’t wait to receive the first batch of four state-of-the-art Su -30SM dual-engine dual-seat multi-purpose heavy fighter from Russia. In this way, the Armenian Air Force soon formed an equipment performance advantage over the Azerbaijani Air Force, and the JF-17 Block2 fighter plane that the latter originally planned to purchase was obviously unable to counter the Su -30SM dual-engine dual-seat multi-purpose heavy fighter.
KLJ-7A phased array radar displayed by CLP 14.
Therefore, Russia took this opportunity to actively promote Su -35 and MiG -35, two advanced fighter planes with emphasis on air combat, to counter the Su -30SM dual-engine, two-seat and multi-purpose heavy fighter of Armenian Air Force. The Azerbaijani military delegation was invited to visit aviation enterprises in Russia in April, 2020. After comparison and analysis, the MIG -35 fighter with a relatively cheap price (about US$ 45 million) and a common engine with the MIG -29 was finally selected. Moreover, the pilots of Azerbaijan Air Force also personally tested the MiG -35 fighter and expressed satisfaction with its flight performance and airborne equipment.
After that, the Azerbaijani military formally proposed to Russia the intention of purchasing MiG -35 fighters in bulk. Unexpectedly, after the outbreak of the Naka War in September 2020, Russia frozen the consultation with Azerbaijan on the purchase of MiG -35 fighters. Of course, in order to be fair, Russia did not provide support to the Armenian Air Force, which made it impossible for the four Su -30SM dual-engine, two-seat multi-purpose heavy fighter equipped by the country to take off. As a result, when the Turkish Air Force F-16 fighters "stranded" in Azerbaijan directly participated in the war, they quickly took control of the air superiority over the Naka area, and there was basically no suspense about the outcome of the war between the two sides.
On November 10, 2020, after the two sides formally ceased fire under the supervision of Russian peacekeeping forces, Azerbaijan finally decided to purchase JF-17 fighter jets from Pakistan without hesitation. Of course, this time Azerbaijan has chosen the latest Block3 version instead of the Block2 version in 2015. In terms of performance, Block3 version is weaker than Su -30SM heavy fighter in terms of flight performance, such as ceiling, flight speed, maneuverability and bomb load, and has certain advantages over the latter in terms of airborne avionics system and airborne weapons and ammunition.
Xiaolong can carry many types of precision guided ammunition.
Su -30SM heavy fighter is equipped with NO11R passive phased array radar, while JF-17 Block3 fighter is equipped with foreign trade active phased array radar newly developed in China. According to CLP 14, the research and development unit of this type of radar, the performance of JF-17 equipped with active phased array radar has reached the same level as that of AN/APG-81 equipped with American F-35 fighters. Therefore, JF-17 Block3 fighter is superior to Su -30SM heavy fighter in fire control radar performance.
In addition, according to the information disclosed by the Pakistan Air Force, JF-17 Block3 fighter will also be equipped with foreign trade models of a new generation of air-to-air missiles developed by China, namely PL-10E short-range combat air-to-air missile and PL-15E long-range air-to-air missile. Especially PL-15E long-range air-to-air missile, its overall performance has surpassed the most advanced AIM-120D long-range air-to-air missile in the United States, and it is the best long-range air-to-air missile in the world at present. In this way, with the powerful combination of active phased array radar and PL-15E long-range air-to-air missile, JF-17 Block3 fighter can take the lead in attacking Su -30SM heavy fighter in over-the-horizon air combat. Previously, the Pakistan Air Force’s F-16 Block52 fighter shot down the Indian Air Force’s Su -30MKI fighter by firing AIM-120C long-range air-to-air missiles in the air battle in February 2020, which proved that medium or light fighters can also defeat heavy fighter by adopting appropriate tactics. Therefore, by purchasing JF-17 Block3 fighters, Azerbaijan can also gain experience from Pakistan on how to fight against Su -30SM heavy fighter.
In addition, from the point of view of logistics support, JF-17 Block3 fighter is also superior to MIG -35. First of all, Turkey, Pakistan and Azerbaijan have maintained good diplomatic relations for a long time, which can continuously guarantee the supply of airborne ammunition and spare parts. Moreover, JF-17 Block3 fighter adopts ——RD-93MA medium thrust turbofan engine, which is also a development model of Russian RD-33 series, so the engine support system of MIG -29 fighter can be used. Of course, if Azerbaijan is worried that it may be "stuck in the neck" by Russia in the future, it is also possible to use the WS-13 medium thrust turbofan engine developed by China on its JF-17 Block3 light fighter.