Images show Myanmar Air Force JF-17/FC-1 conducting flight tests in China
Gabriel Dominguez, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
14 June 2017
Images have emerged showing what appears to be one of the first JF-17/FC-1 fighters on order for the MAF conducting test flights in China. Source: Via zhaizou.com website
Images have emerged on Chinese online forums showing what appears to be one of the first Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder/FC-1 Xiaolong multirole combat aircraft on order for the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) conducting test flights in China.
Released around 13 June the images show a single-seat JF-17/FC-1 with the standard camouflage and tail insignia of the MAF being flight-tested at what appears to be CAC's airfield in Chengdu.
Diplomatic sources told
Jane's in December 2015 that Myanmar had signed a contract earlier that year for 16 such aircraft at a unit cost of USD16 million.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources told
Jane's in February 2017 that these aircraft will be of the Block II variant, which was first rolled out from the PAC's Kamra plant in 2015 and which, unlike the Block I variant, features an air-to-air refuelling capability and improved avionics and electronics.
China's state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) - CAC's parent company - is believed to also be providing technical assistance to Myanmar as the aircraft replaces the MAF's ageing Chengdu J-7 fighters, which were exported as the F-7M Airguard and acquired in the 1990s.
China holds first joint exercise with Myanmar Navy
Warships from the Chinese and Myanmar navies led by guided-missile frigate UMS Aung Zeya steam in formation during a joint maritime exercise on 21 May. Source: Via JZ.81.cn
China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has conducted its first exercise with the Myanmar Navy (MN): an important milestone in the projection of Chinese naval power into the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
The exercise, which involved PLAN guided-missile destroyer
Changchun, guided-missile frigate
Jingzhou, and supply ship
Chaohu, followed a port-call to Thilawa - the naval port of the city of Yangon - by the Chinese warships, according to the China's Ministry of National Defense (MND).
The visit was part of a wide-ranging six-month exercise in naval diplomacy by the PLAN task force, which left Shanghai in late April and will make port-calls in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Pacific. The four-day visit to Myanmar followed port-calls in the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The one-day exercise in the Gulf of Martaban on 21 May was conducted with two MN ships: guided-missile frigate UMS
Aung Zeya, guided-missile corvette UMS
Anawrahta