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Russia scuttles Pak-China Super-7 fighter

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Pakistan and China have deferred their decade-long plans to manufacture the multi-purpose Super-7 futuristic warplane following the Russian government's decision not to supply the engine required for the aircraft.

"In view of the Russian decision, both Pakistan and China have decided to use indigenous technology currently available in both countries to manufacture a modern fighter plane," the Urdu newspaper Jang said, quoting reliable sources.

It said the Pak-China fighter expected to be test-flown in about one and a half years would be fitted with a Chinese engine instead of the powerful Russian RD-93 type engine used in the MiG-29 interceptor.

There was no official comment from either Islamabad or Beijing. But diplomatic sources, who had earlier revealed Russia's decision not to supply the engines following pressure from India, said China had no matching engine at present.

This was why the project had to bank on the MiG-29 engine being manufactured by the Mikoyan Design Bureau.

They said the setback to the plane project could have serious consequences for the Pakistani Air Force, which was looking for a medium-technology combat aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of F-6, F-7P, A-5 and Mirage planes. The PAF at present has about 350 warplanes.

The most modern combat aircraft in the PAF continues to be the 35 or so American-made F-16 fighters it had acquired way back in 1983 at the height of the war in Afghanistan.

PTI

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