Pakistan Air Force | News & Discussions

[Yasser76]

A shame that PAF cannot get rid of the F7PG's yet - they offer limited military value relative to the cost of maintaining the fleet and operational cost right now.

No value in these birds at all now. DACT is pointless, they cannot carry air to ground missiles and lack BVR.

We keep a single Sqd near the Afghan border. Those engineers, pilots, ground crew, and even HAS and ramp space should be used to keep valuable assets as far from Eastern border as possible, instead we are operating junk just on the off chance we need to shoot down a stray Taliban chopper....

 

[Yasser76]

No value in these birds at all now. DACT is pointless, they cannot carry air to ground missiles and lack BVR.

We keep a single Sqd near the Afghan border. Those engineers, pilots, ground crew, and even HAS and ramp space should be used to keep valuable assets as far from Eastern border as possible, instead we are operating junk just on the off chance we need to shoot down a stray Taliban chopper....

Additionally do we want young pilots to be flying planes with no decent radar, no data link and no BVR or stand off capabilities for many years? That is a waste of human resource.

Mirages I can understand as that have a stand off/strategic role so it is worth the effort and manpower, F-7PG now offers us nothing. Good chance that young pilots starting out on these birds may have to convert to J-10 and J-35 soon. Insane...

 

[Ali_Baba]

Additionally do we want young pilots to be flying planes with no decent radar, no data link and no BVR or stand off capabilities for many years? That is a waste of human resource.

Mirages I can understand as that have a stand off/strategic role so it is worth the effort and manpower, F-7PG now offers us nothing. Good chance that young pilots starting out on these birds may have to convert to J-10 and J-35 soon. Insane...

Yes - that is a significant issue, these pilots will accrue flying hours, but their pathway to the top tiers of the PAF squadrons takes alot longer since these fighters are so limited in their technical capabilities and the skills the pilots pickup.

I guess it comes down to money, but I do think there is more value in getting rid of the F7PGs as a type entirely, saving all the money to keep the infrastructure in place to operate them(ie people) and move to the JF17..

Maybe the focus should be on F7PGs and Mirage retirements, and not J-35AE's given that for at least a decade, PAF has the edge on the IAF ?

 

[Yasser76]

Yes - that is a significant issue, these pilots will accrue flying hours, but their pathway to the top tiers of the PAF squadrons takes alot longer since these fighters are so limited in their technical capabilities and the skills the pilots pickup.

I guess it comes down to money, but I do think there is more value in getting rid of the F7PGs as a type entirely, saving all the money to keep the infrastructure in place to operate them(ie people) and move to the JF17..

Maybe the focus should be on F7PGs and Mirage retirements, and not J-35AE's given that for at least a decade, PAF has the edge on the IAF ?

Well in thoery 2 J-35 sqds can easily do what 3-4 Mirage Sqds can do

Very possibly the next JF-17 unit may well be No 17 Sqd, which means we can finally get rid of this plane from the frontline.