Pakistan has decided to start sale of state of the art JF-17, Thunder combat planes developed by the collaboration of China to several other countries including to Sri Lanka from next year, Pakistan’s The Nations news agency reported.

Pakistan Defence ministry Production sources said as many as 42 JF-17 Thunder planes have been developed so far under joint venture with China.

“Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has been assigned a target of exporting 5 to 7 JF-17 Thunder planes next year, and the discussions in this regard are under the way to Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Qatar and other friendly countries,” the report stated.

Pakistan Ministry of defence Production officials have expressed optimism that Pakistan would succeed in exporting these modern planes in the next year.

Sources said Heavy Industries Taxila has manufactured prototype of Buraq vehicle to defuse the land mines and remote control explosive material.

The PAC JF-17 Thunder or CAC FC-1 Xiaolong, is a light-weight, single-engine, multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Air Force, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the Chengdu Aircraft Industries Corporation (CAC) of China.
Its designation "JF-17 Thunder" by Pakistan is short for "Joint Fighter-17", while the designation "FC-1 Xiaolong" by China means "Fighter China-1 Fierce Dragon".

The JF-17 can carry a variety of missiles and bombs, including air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, supplemented by a 23/30 mm GSh-23-2 twin-barrel autocannon. It is powered by a RD-93 afterburning turbofan, and has a top speed of Mach 1.6. The JF-17 is slated to become the backbone of Pakistan Air Force (PAF), complementing the F-16s as well as the J-10Bs (on order) within its aircraft ranks and is also expected to fill the duties of aerial reconnaissance, ground-attack and interception.