Pakistan government has approved the sale of three JF-17 aircraft to Nigerian Air Force against a sum of $184.3 million.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved the issuance of a certificate of sovereign guarantee to show commitment for the aircraft sale to the Nigerian Air Force.
Nigeria is Pakistan’s second international customer for its domestically assembled JF-17 “Thunder” multirole fighter jet after Myanmar.
Nigeria and Pakistan had recently signed an agreement over the sale of JF-17’s for the Nigerian Airforce. The sale would help improve Pakistan’s the declining foreign exchange reserves
The Ministry of Defence Production told the ECC that the Nigerian authorities had been informed that the Government of Pakistan would issue a certificate of sovereign guarantee rather than a certificate of sovereign bank guarantee, and the Nigerians had agreed to it.
JF-17 Thunder is an advanced, light-weight, all-weather, day/night multi-role fighter aircraft; developed as a joint venture between Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) of China.
The aircraft is capable of carrying a weapons payload of over 3.5 tons and can be armed with a variety of air-to-air, air-to-surface, and anti-ship missiles.