Somalia negotiating with Pakistan to purchase two dozen JF-17: media report

Islamabad, Feb 22 (PTI) Somalia is negotiating with Pakistan to purchase up to 24 JF-17 Thunder Block III fighter jets, a media report said here Sunday.

The discussions accelerated following a visit to Islamabad by Somali Air Force Commander Mohamud Sheikh Ali earlier in the month, The News reported, citing foreign media.

The JF-17 Thunder is a single-engine lightweight combat jet developed jointly by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC).

Though Pakistan claims that the jet has proved its capabilities during the conflict with India last year, its effectiveness is not clearly known.

Pakistan had extensively used Chinese-origin Chengdu J-10 fighter jets during the May 7-10 conflict with India, according to experts and military officials.

On Sunday, The News quoted a Somali defence ministry official as saying, “Our airspace must be protected by Somali hands,” portraying the acquisition not merely as a weapons procurement effort but as a statement of political sovereignty and institutional resurgence.

Should the agreement materialise, the USD 900 million (approx PKR 251 billion) deal would represent Somalia’s largest defence investment since the Cold War era, it said.

This is not the first time that Pakistan has claimed that its jets have many takers. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on January 14 claimed that several countries were in talks with Pakistan to acquire its fighter jets following last year's conflict with India.

Before that the army said on January 13 that Pakistan and Indonesia discussed defence cooperation amidst reports about Jakarta joining the list of nations interested in buying JF-17 Thunder jets, while on January 10 it said Iraq expressed “keen interest” in JF-17 Thunder fighter jets and Mushshak training aircraft.

The development came days after Pakistan and Bangladesh air chiefs held talks on “potential procurement” of JF-Thunder fighter jets by Dhaka, a development not yet confirmed by Bangladesh. PTI SH NPK NPK