ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan and Sri Lanka have reached an agreement under which Colombo will buy JF-17 Thunder fighter jets from Islamabad.
The media reports said that in the initial phase, Pakistan will sell 8 JF-17 Thunder planes to Sri Lanka.
پاکستان سری لنکا کو جے ایف 17تھنڈرطیارے فروخت کرے گا pic.twitter.com/hBM0UEX93S
— Geo News Urdu (@geonews_urdu) January 5, 2016
Earlier, the diplomatic sources revealed that India had threatened Sri Lanka not to buy JF-17 Thunders from Pakistan. The Indian government warned that if the Sri Lankan government would move forward with the proposed JF-17 Thunder deal, New Delhi will stop the loan of $400 million to be given to Colombo.
The JF-17 Thunder is a lightweight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China. The JF-17 can be used for aerial reconnaissance, ground attack and aircraft interception.
On December 30 last year, the Chairman PAC Air Marshal Javaid Ahmed informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence Production that the complex had achieved a milestone in Pakistan’s aviation history by endogenously manufacturing 16 fighter jets (JF-17 Thunder) during 2015.
The Chairman PAC said that the production and manufacturing of JF-17 Thunder fighter jets would be enhanced to 20 per year from 2016.
It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is currently in Colombo on a three-day official visit to Sri Lanka.
Earlier in the day, both Pakistan and Sri Lanka signed eight agreements and memorandum of understandings (MoUs) related to defense, security, anti-terrorism, trade and science and technology in Colombo.
Sharif also held talks with the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and agreed on reinvigorating ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka with focus on enhanced cooperation in trade, science and technology, defence production and tourism.
