Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose forces control eastern Libya and oppose government forces in the west of the country, decided to purchase combat aircraft from Pakistan.
The deal, which Reuters learned about from its own sources but which is not officially confirmed, concerns 16 JF-17s and 12 Super Mushak propeller trainers at once. The procurement cost is indicated by high-ranking sources from Islamabad from $4 billion to $4.6 billion. The contract execution period is quite short 2.5 years.
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Considering that Libya has been under an arms procurement embargo since 2011, one should hardly expect official confirmation from Pakistan. At the same time, Khalifa Haftar himself announced concluding defense contracts with this country, without specifics.
And this procurement is of course interesting in that part of Libya should become the fifth JF-17 operator after Pakistan itself, Myanmar, Nigeria, and recently Azerbaijan, which by the way ordered 40 of these fighters at once. And also in that these Pakistani aircraft were chosen at all.
The fact is that Haftar cooperates very actively with russia and this summer showed off during a parade BM-30 Smerch MLRS, Tor-M2E air defense systems, BMP-2M with Berezhok modules, BTR-82, and VPK-Ural wheeled armored vehicles. And back in 2020 delivered at least 14 aircraft of MiG-29 and Su-24 types.
And, it seems, in case of corresponding desire, choosing russian aircraft would be quite an easy matter. And the Kremlin would be happy to receive an order, transferring either more old refurbished MiG-29s. Or even new aircraft, especially since even during Libyan dictator Gaddafi's lifetime, russia wanted to sell him 12 Su-35s, four Su-30s, and six Yak-130s.
But despite this, it was chosen to cooperate with Pakistan and, actually, China, because JF-17 was not only created by Chinese and assembled using their components, it also uses Chinese armament. That is, without Beijing's consent, this sale definitely wouldn’t have happened.
Recall that JF-17 is a light single-engine 4+ generation aircraft, which in modern Block 3 version is equipped with AESA radar and Chinese WS-13 engine instead of russian RD-93. The aircraft's maximum takeoff weight is 13,500 kg, of which armament up to 4,325 kg on 8 hardpoints. The aircraft can accelerate to 1,910 km/h, flight range up to 1,800 km, equipped with air refueling system.
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