Islamabad. For about a week, there was a discussion on social media about the alleged crash of Pakistani JF-17. Pakistan Air Force officials kept refraining from disclosing the crash of this fighter aircraft developed in collaboration with China. But now the company that made the ejection seat of the aircraft has revealed the plane crash through a post on X, saying that the pilot had ejected safely.
The accident reportedly took place last Wednesday (June 5) near Jhang district within Faisalabad division of Punjab province. On Wednesday (June 11), Martin-Baker, the world’s leading manufacturer of ejection seats, posted on X that the pilot, a wing commander, managed to eject safely before the plane crashed using one of the Martin-Baker PK16LE seats.
The British company revealed that the incident marks another successful ejection, while underlining the efficacy of its life-saving ejection technology. It said that a total of 7,723 lives have been saved through Martin-Baker ejection seats so far.
Over the past week, videos have been going viral on social media purportedly showing the pilot ejecting safely. One such clip shows him lying on the ejection seat, covering his face with one hand and talking on a mobile phone while locals gather around him and talk.
JF-17: Jointly developed by Pakistan-China
The JF-17 Thunder, a joint effort between Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC), is a key aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force.
According to the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia, “The JF-17 Thunder Pakistani Multirole Combat Aircraft is a light, single-engine, multi-role fighter aircraft jointly developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China.”
It was designed to replace a number of older aircraft and fulfill a variety of operational roles, including “interception, ground attack, anti-shipping and aerial reconnaissance”.
The fighter jet that reportedly crashed in Pakistan is the JF-17 Block 2, a dual-seat version, 8 of which were rolled out at PAC Kamra in December 2019. The command information said that the production of the first JF-17B was started in 2016 by Pakistan and China. On 28 April 2017, the JF-17B took its first test flight in Chengdu.
The incident joins a series of previous accidents involving Pakistani military aircraft, raising concerns about the challenges faced by Pakistani authorities in maintaining an ageing air fleet amid limited financial resources, according to local media reports in Pakistan.