Azerbaijan inducts JF-17 fighters from Pakistan as Armenia looks to India to beef up

New Delhi: Pakistan has notched a third major success in exporting the JF-17, with Azerbaijan becoming the latest country to add the fighter jet to its fleet.

This comes at a time when the Caucasian country is locked in a standoff with its neighbor, Armenia, after taking the Nagorno-Karabakh region from it. While Azerbaijan is moving away from its traditional arms supplier, Russia, and growing closer to Turkey and Pakistan, Armenia has been deepening its defense ties with India, which is already a major supplier to the country.

Pakistan’s success with the JF-17—developed jointly with China and co-produced by the two countries— also comes even as India is trying to export the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), but no talks have borne fruit as yet.

The acquisition of the JF-17s was announced by Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Iran, Ali Alizada, in a post on X Wednesday. Alizada has also served as envoy to Pakistan.

On that day, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev inspected a JF-17C (Block III) aircraft at capital Baku’s Heydar Aliyev International Air­port, where it was showcased as part of a defense exhibition. Aliyev was accompanied by Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov and senior Pakistani military officials.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan inked the $1.6-billion deal in February. Under the agreement, Azerbaijan will receive eight JF-17C Block-III aircraft from Pakistan besides ammunition. This will include the air-to-surface missiles.

The lightweight and multirole JF-17C fighter jets are co-produced by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and the China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC). They have air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities and high maneuverability at medium and low altitudes, as described in a report by Türkiye Today.

Pakistan has previously exported JF-17s to Myanmar and Nigeria, and there have also been reports that Iraq may purchase the fighters.

In Myanmar, however, the fighters—acquired between 2019 and 2021 following an agreement signed in 2016—were declared unfit last year, prompting its military junta to send a “stern message” to Islamabad. The Myanmar Air Force grounded the jets due to malfunctions and flaws, The Economic Times reported.

Speaking at an event (the Global Armenian Summit) earlier this month, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had questioned why his country could not buy weapons from India if Azerbaijan could do so from Pakistan.

As reported by ThePrint in July, Armenian troops were spotted wearing an India-made helmet-mounted thermal imaging monocular manufactured by Bengaluru-based Tonbo Imaging.

Since then, Armenia has reached out to India for the procurement of Indian missiles, including the indigenous beyond-visual range Astra air-to-air missile, and to upgrade its Su-30 fighter aircraft fleet. As reported by ThePrint, talks are on and still at a nascent stage.

In 2022, India’s Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited (KSSL) won an export order for the supply of artillery guns to Armenia. Armenia has also bought the Pinaka rocket system from India.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s cooperation with Pakistan and Turkey has gathered significant steam. In July, the leaders of the three countries met in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Islamabad’s defense ties with Baku go back to 2003, when the two countries signed a military agreement. Aliyev’s father and predecessor, Heydar Aliyev, had visited Pakistan earlier that year, while Pervez Musharraf, then president of Pakistan, returned the visit the following year.

During Aero India in Bengaluru last year, HAL chief managing director C.B. Ananthakrishnan had said that India was in talks with Malaysia, Argentina, Egypt and Botswana for the sale of the LCA Tejas.

HAL submitted a proposal to Malaysia’s Ministry of Defense to supply 18 Tejas aircraft in response to a global tender floated by the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

The Indian company, however, was unable to become the final contender and lost to South Korea’s Korean Aerospace Industries, which had on offer its FA-50. No other talks have fructified, either.