Pakistan’s Army on Saturday (January 10, 2025) claimed that Iraq has shown ‘deep interest’ in its JF-17 Thunder fighter jet and Mushaq training aircraft. This statement of Pak Army has come at a time when Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu is on a tour of Iraq.

During his official visit, the PAF Chief met Iraqi Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Staff Pilot Mohnad Ghalib Mohammad Radi al-Asadi and during this, enhancing bilateral military cooperation was discussed. Earlier, Pakistan Army had claimed that Bangladesh Air Force Chief has also shown interest in ‘purchase’ of JF-Thunder fighter planes during his visit to Islamabad.

JF-17 fighter jet is a joint project of China and PAK

JF-17 Thunder is a single-engine light combat aircraft, jointly developed by China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC). Pakistan has claimed that this fighter plane proved its capabilities during the military conflict with India last year, but Pakistan knows very well that the world heard the name of JF-17 due to China’s false propaganda.

India shot down JF-17 fighter jet

Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh had said in November that at least five Pakistani high-tech fighter jets were shot down during Operation Sindoor. These included JF-17 Thunder fighter jets.

Bangladesh and Saudi can also make deal for JF-17

Recently, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, while talking to Geo News, had said that after seeing the performance of JF-17 after the military confrontation with India in May, many countries want to buy it. Apart from this, Saudi Arabia, with which Pakistan has recently signed an agreement, is also talking about purchasing Pakistan’s scrap JF-17. According to reports, there is talk of converting Saudi’s loan of about $2 billion into a jet deal.