The officers of the Myanmar Air Force confirmed that the purchase of a JF-17 «Thunder» fighter jets was approved. They said the order was part of a deal signed by China, Pakistan , and Myanmar.

That was reported by East Pendulum.

Earlier it was reported that Myanmar Air Force will seek to purchase 16 JF-17 Thunder multi-role plane. The JF-17 could be positioned as a viable replacement for Myanmar’s MiG-29, J-7M or Q-5 ground-attack aircraft.

The Joint Fighter-17 (JF-17) Thunder (also named FC-1 Xiaolong ) multi-role fighter was jointly developed by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) of China and is jointly manufactured by Pakistan and China.

The JF-17 / FC-1 is armed with GSh-23 dual-barrel 23mm cannon or GSh-30 dual-30mm cannon. The aircraft has seven hardpoints of which four are located under the wings, one under the fuselage and two mounted on the wingtips. It can carry up to 3,700kg payload.