PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA/PAKISTAN CHENGDU FC-1/JF-17

摘要

The FC-1 (allegedly meaning Fighter China) project has its origins in the cancellation of an earlier, Sino-US collaboration on the Super 7, involving the Grumman Corporation in modernisation of the Chengdu J-7, the Chinese 'copy' of the ubiquitous MiG-21 lightweight fighter. When the original Super 7 project floundered in 1991, it was resurrected by CATIC (China Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation) in February 1992, CATIC inviting Pakistan to invest in the programme. Today, the FC-1 project is financed on a 50%-50% basis by the government of Pakistan and the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, the aircraft having been designed originally for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) and the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). For the former it was to replace the PLAAF's large fleet of J-7 fighters and for Pakistan it was to be a substitute for the politically 'suspended' order for additional F-16s from the USA. China has long enjoyed a more or less 'symbiotic' relationship with Russia's fighter designers and the FC-1 is reported to embody features proposed by the Mikoyan Design Bureau for the MiG-33, a single-engined development of the MiG-29 which was not taken up by the Russian Air Force.