Aviation
Military /
Americas
JF-17 "Thunder"
Chinese delegation visits Argentina to discuss fighter sales
JF-17
Shimin Gu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gabriela Ramos
5/9/2021
A delegation from CATIC - China National Aerotechnology Import & Export - visits Argentina this week to negotiate the sale of twelve JF-17 fighter jets to the Argentine Air Force, which since retiring its last Dassault Mirage III in 2015 has been without any supersonic fighters in your fleet.
Argentina had been negotiating the purchase of the FA-50 from Korean Aerospace Industries, but, without success, started to receive offers from Russia, with the MiG-35, and from China, with the JF-17, manufactured in partnership with Pakistan.
JF-17
Eric Salard, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
CATIC plans to close the deal for the sale of the twelve fighters, which is why the delegation is visiting Argentina this week. The delegation will also visit the Materials Area of "u200b"u200bRio Cuarto and some Air Brigades, in addition to the Argentine aircraft manufacturer, FADEA, which can be used to assemble the fighters. The visits aim to evaluate the facilities, in order to verify the aircraft's manufacturing, assembly and maintenance potential.
Argentina opted for Russian and Chinese fighters after the British government's veto that prevents the sale of South Korean airplanes, produced with parts made in the United Kingdom.
The Chinese fighter uses an RD-39 engine, of Russian origin, despite being lighter than the Russian MiG, but also with less capacity to carry weapons. Still, the JF-17 is capable of carrying out interceptor combat missions and its combat radius can reach up to 1,352 kilometers. The aircraft also has seven pylons to receive armaments, which can be bombs, cannons, infrared-guided air-to-air missiles, anti-ship and surface-to-air weapons.
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Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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