Sri Lanka Military Aviation

Could be Su-30 or upgraded versions of the Mig-29. The Mig-29SMT looks like a quite capable aircraft and cheaper than the Su-30.

Personally I hope this does go through. If we're going to buy jets anyway I'd much rather get Russian fighters than the JF-17 or Tejas.

Russia offers a new credit line to Sri Lanka



Sri Lanka will soon reach an agreement with Russia to get a new credit line of US$ 300 -400 million from that country to buy military equipment for the armed forces and the Sri Lanka police. The deal is to be finalized following the ongoing discussions between the Russian authorities and the Sri Lankan embassy officials in Russia, government sources said.

This seems to be happening in the background silently parallel to the 'international tender' to purchase multi role fighters. I am not sure if the 'tender' was just a ploy to appease our neighbours.

The credit line amount does not make sense for a new jets so I am not sure if the airforce is picking up refurbished ones if this is in fact for the aircraft deal. Hopefully it's the SU-30 or we will be going through 'aircraft is obsolete' cycle in a few years time.

MiG 29 and SU 30 could be on the menu

Currently only 3 fighters (1 Kffir and 2 F7)are operational in Sri lanka air force and they all are vintage 2nd generation air crafts. I think this decision is late. Country is in debt, but this decision is much important rather than importing high luxury vehicles to politicians. Air Force need to maintain at least one squadron.

SL need to go for JF 17, MiG-29 SMT or Su 27.

I smell something fishy here!
The country is so much in debt, and the VAT was increased...

Suddenly what made the multi-role fighter jets a priority?

Cabinet approves new fighter jets

http://www.dailymirror.lk/113921/Cab...w-fighter-jets

There are better and cheaper alternates, than the 28 Million $ for the JF-17. With Russian Engines which last only that long.

Like the BAe Hawk or the equivalents.

I am not sure what's the need to get air defense fighters, while not saying you don't need fighters.

Reality is, if there is a war with any country nearby or far, the SLAF may be swamped very soon.

Alternate would be to keep the air force trim and tight with the likes of BAe Hawk or similar aircraft and keep the currency on COIN. And build on strategic air lift ability.

As for PAF considering JF 17 as front line, well, they have to, since it is the only operator and nobody wants to buy it. Though the F16 with the proven integration of weapons will give the JF 17 a good run for the money.

Technology transfer ? Again, transfer which technology ?

When times were bad, Russian and such planes were good, as they got the job done, for a cheaper purchase price but low reliability and less MTBF.

When there is no immediate need, focus should be on getting better equipment, with greater reliability.

That's my 2 cents.

SLAF needs new aircraft. SLAF has probably the oldest rust buckets flying around in the region. The outdated kFirs and MiG 27s which are the backbone of the current fleet require replacements.

We all know how "Business" is done in Sri Lanka...

This is nothing more than another "wealth transfer" of public funds to family, friends and cronies. This has nothing to do with SLAF requirements.

Remember the MiG deal?

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force Air Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala

Also Pakistani Prime Minister along with a delegation took off for Kandy on two SLAF MI 17 VVIP Helicopters. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit the historic city of Kandy.

I have no information regarding the veracity of the claim that SLAF has in fact signed up to buy JF-17.

However, my educated guess as to going with Chinese / Pakistani product could be rooted in the past experience during the war with LTTE, when the Westerns countries by and large refused to provide any military hardware.

Pakistan was a staunch ally of Sri Lanka at the time and an extremely reliable partner for hardware procurement.

SLAF strategists must be highlighting the risks of committing to a US product (F-16s) even if they come cheaper with potentially better technology.

Perhaps, in their mind inferior technology at their disposal is better than superior technology which may or may not be available when needed.

Most of the Pakistani dailys are claiming today (6\1\16) that SL has signed for 8 JF-17s during the Pakistani PM visit to SL.

Does anyone local know if there are any follow up batches or if any technology transfer is involved?

Wiki lists a block 2 JF-17 at 28 Million US $, getting a second hand F-16 from air force that has them on storage might have been cheaper (and an older F-16 would probably be technically better than the JF-17 anyway, the Pakistani air force regard their F-16 as their front line fighter, and some were bought second hand IIRC).

Any Air force guys on the forum? Any inkling to as why JF-17 was chosen?

JF-17 is based on the Chinese Chengdu F-7 which SLAF has used before (or are still using).

USAF never used F-7, other than for evaluation (target practice)

Well JF-17 is kind of based on F-7 which is used by SLAF
Its low cost but it can do everything from Air to Air, Ground attack and Anti-Ship.

Is JF17 the good aircraft for our SLAF?
Has anyone know the what type of aircraft operating in SLAF fleet? and How many?