PAF J-35AE - News, Updates and Discussions

[hussain0216]

Pakistan and China Reportedly Set to Sign $12 Billion Defense Agreement. According to the Times of Islamabad, Pakistan and China are likely to reach a landmark $12 billion defense agreement aimed at achieving air combat quality superiority over India by introducing 40 J-35A fifth-generation stealth fighters, 6 KJ-500 airborne early warning aircraft, and multiple sets of HQ-19 strategic missile defense systems.

Let's be honest, this all hinges on FUNDS

If the answer was Pakistan was willing to spend 12 billion over a period of time with financing available from China, I think their would be a lot of justifiable questions

However, things seem to be working in our favour on multiple fronts
If we have support from Saudi, Qatar maybe some other countries to support an expansion of our military capabilities and defence support for the GCC

Then I can see how funds could be made available and a logical path presents itself



Their is no smoke without fire, and their is plenty of smoke at the moment

 

[ety]

if this 12 billion is correct then PAF is going for 100 J35A, 6 KJ500A and 5 HQ19, 36 more j10C

That's a lot of goodies and money.

 

[baqai]

PAF does not have habbit of announcing everything on social media (wouldn't we love that), you all think that our pilots out of a sudden manage to induct J-10s in the ecosystem, made full use of it in an actual war situation? that takes time, PAF had been silently working on the project for some time

they don't need brownie points from us internet junkies, so my point is that induction of J-35s would not be out of the blue but a well thought process, lets wait and see (and keep on saying InshaAllah)

 

[hasssanali8998]

EWACS

we actually have a pretty good and mature awacs fleet , and it massively helped us against india ( 2019 and 2025 ) , and we will be getting HAVA SOJ from turkey soon . but yes you could always upgrade ( most likely kj500 ) , but i dont think we need it yet .

advanced AD

we have them but just not enough , as you probably know that stuff is expensive , and we are broke .
but this year we did get new ad toys ,should be revealed soon

Should've included the financing for the new weapons purchases as part of the defense pact.

might already be happening seeing how we just deployed assests to KSA( a man can dream!! )

I hope you also manage to get some local production lines and be able to acquire some technical know how, would be a significant boost for domestic MIC and expertise.

lmao
stick around pak def section and you will see how fucked up our defence sector is

 

[FHN]

Let's be honest, this all hinges on FUNDS

If the answer was Pakistan was willing to spend 12 billion over a period of time with financing available from China, I think their would be a lot of justifiable questions

However, things seem to be working in our favour on multiple fronts
If we have support from Saudi, Qatar maybe some other countries to support an expansion of our military capabilities and defence support for the GCC

Then I can see how funds could be made available and a logical path presents itself



Their is no smoke without fire, and their is plenty of smoke at the moment

I suspect the saudis footing the bill to get access to Chinese tech without pissing off the Americans. Pakistan is taking on Saudi Arabia's defense duties

 

[Ibbi32]

Still dont get this kj-500 and hq-19 side of deal. They seem completely unneeded by PAF. Ill be very mad if PAF decides to buy a THAAD equivalent but cant source enough short to medium range air defence. Kj-500 is cool but j-10s work perfectly fine with link 17 and eryies. If its something about data bandwidth id much rather we upgrade link 17 than buy new awacs.

 

[NGAD IS THE BEST]

if this 12 billion is correct then PAF is going for 100 J35A, 6 KJ500A and 5 HQ19, 36 more j10C

lol do you know what are you talking about? J-35AE would be tip of the spear for PAF and Tip of the Spear is always in lesser numbers than workhorse like JF-17/F-16/J-10C and also 5th gen operating/maintenance and logistic cost is 3 to 4 times of conventional 4.5th gen jets, So its more likely that we will get 36-72 J-35AE and 80 to 100 J-10C with KJ-500 rather buy 100 J-35AE which put huge strain and burden on PAF to its operational capability

 

[hussain0216]

I suspect the saudis footing the bill to get access to Chinese tech without pissing off the Americans. Pakistan is taking on Saudi Arabia's defense duties

I think Pakistan will get a oversized military

Where funding will be made available for purchasing and developing weapons including the J35 etc

A certain number of purchases will be for the Saudi/GCC,

If we go into a war with India they will be used against India
But if Saudi etc is attacked , then those assets will immediately fly to Arabia to defend Arabia

I think Saudi and others will purchase for themselves a number of weapons that will be permanently stationed In Pakistan until needed

And a number of defence programs inside Pakistan will be funded

 

[Cipher212]

Even Honda would be frightened by the power of these dreams.

I don't see Saudis footing the bill to build up our military. Yes they are lazy Sheikhs who outsource everything but not like this.

They would be better off just buying more equipment for themselves and increasing recruitment or setting up a foreign legion from lesser Muslim countries

 

[atmi_bum]

Pakistan seldom pays for her military equipments , during 50s and 60s it was American largesse...in the 80s it was again American gifts....90s till now it's mostly Saudi kindness...... do you think with $ 10 billion budget we can maintain such a powerful military ?

China will provide Pakistan with what it needs, regardless of payment. China recoups the cost by providing Pakistan the balance it needs against India. That's the key benefit.

 

[东风夜放花千树]

That's a lot of goodies and money.

My friend, I suddenly came across this news yesterday, but I couldn't find any authoritative media to confirm it.

The information I found is: an 80 billion RMB contract. It includes 40 J-35A, 6 KJ-500, and the quantity of HQ-19 is not accurately known. The expected delivery time is mid-2026.

At the same time, there are reports that Pakistani pilots and technical personnel are undergoing training.

We cannot confirm this news at the moment. Chinese officials do not like to use media publicity too much. For example, the procurement of J-10CE, I did not find any authoritative media reports. A relatively reliable source is the "Top Ten News in Defense Science and Technology Industry for 2025" released in January 2026, which confirmed the achievements of the J-10CE. The title was: 'J-10CE Achieves First Combat Results, Attracting Global Attention.'

Perhaps one day suddenly, we will be pleasantly surprised to see that this news is true.

 

[东风夜放花千树]

Even Honda would be frightened by the power of these dreams.

I don't see Saudis footing the bill to build up our military. Yes they are lazy Sheikhs who outsource everything but not like this.

They would be better off just buying more equipment for themselves and increasing recruitment or setting up a foreign legion from lesser Muslim countries

We use the lazy leader you mentioned for analysis.

Every country or person needs security. The United States controls the Middle East, and all countries in the Middle East cannot develop armed forces, especially those that could threaten Israel.

Middle Eastern countries need security guarantees, but the United States cannot protect them.

Middle Eastern countries purchase a large amount of weapons from the United States every year, which is like providing security funding to the United States. However, when Israel attacks Qatar, U.S. weapons do not respond. When Iran attacks these countries, the U.S. does not protect them. The security of Middle Eastern countries is affected, and these countries urgently need other powers to protect their security.

Now, if only 10%-20% of the security funding provided to the U.S. is used as an alternative, I think this is a very good investment.

Moreover, countries in the Middle East are unlikely to obtain J-35A or KJ-500, which would change the military balance in the region. They might obtain J-10CE, JF-17, and HQ-9.

You are all countries in the Islamic world, and this involves your internal affairs. Pakistan stabilizes the Middle East, and protecting peace in the Middle East is the most appropriate.

 

[Shui]

Don't believe a single words on those report, that's not defense deal works between China and Pakistan.

 

[东风夜放花千树]

Given the situation in the neighborhood with drones hitting Azerbaijan even, anything can happen.

Pissraelis and bhindians will do anything. Now, India will not do anything unilaterally because they have too many crashes to investigate stemming from last year shoot downs to airshow to domestic crashes, they would definitely want to do something in a year or two. What that means is J-35 is all of a sudden needed NOW not later. J-35 can do everything J-10s can do as well plus the initial DEAD missions.

Also, where is this J-35 is not mature comment coming from? China proceeding with full rate production means its fully mature.....plus it has tech derived from J-20 (discussed at length here on this forum) which means it is mature enough.

The J-35 is a mature and reliable platform. We are currently continuing development work on this platform.

The J-35 is a carrier-based aircraft, and the J-35A is the Air Force version. If the news that Pakistan is purchasing the J-35 is true, it indicates that an export version of the J-35 has also been developed. In the future, there may be a two-seat version and an electronic warfare version.

For example, the J-15; the J-15 is a carrier-based aircraft platform. The current versions include the J-15, J-15T, J-15DT, and J-15DH.

Therefore, I agree with your view that saying the J-35 technology is immature is incorrect. If the J-35 technology were immature, we would not be developing other versions on this platform.

 

[studsmart]

My friend, I suddenly came across this news yesterday, but I couldn't find any authoritative media to confirm it.

The information I found is: an 80 billion RMB contract. It includes 40 J-35A, 6 KJ-500, and the quantity of HQ-19 is not accurately known. The expected delivery time is mid-2026.

At the same time, there are reports that Pakistani pilots and technical personnel are undergoing training.

We cannot confirm this news at the moment. Chinese officials do not like to use media publicity too much. For example, the procurement of J-10CE, I did not find any authoritative media reports. A relatively reliable source is the "Top Ten News in Defense Science and Technology Industry for 2025" released in January 2026, which confirmed the achievements of the J-10CE. The title was: 'J-10CE Achieves First Combat Results, Attracting Global Attention.'
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Perhaps one day suddenly, we will be pleasantly surprised to see that this news is true.

At this amount, the number of J35 should be much higher. Why just 40? Or does this deal include additional J10P? If only J35, then I would say the numbers acquired will be between 80 and 100 in 12 billion, including 6 KJ500A AEWCS and up to 5 batteries of HQ19E. otherwise we are mission something.