Somalia has reportedly reached an agreement with Pakistan to acquire JF-17 Thunder lightweight supersonic combat aircraft, though neither government has officially confirmed a final contract.
Turkish outlet TRHaber revealed the progress but did not disclose the number of airframes, costs, or delivery timelines.
Previous updates indicated that the East African nation could seek up to 24 Block III variants of the jet in a deal potentially worth approximately $900 million, as the country seeks to rebuild its armed forces amid counter-insurgency missions and regional tensions.
The proposed agreement follows defense talks in Mogadishu last September under a delegation led by Pakistani Air Marshal Muhammad Sarfraz with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, and Defence Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi.
Discussions focused on institutional development, training, and air defense cooperation, according to local Somali media.
During the tour, Sarfraz presented Somali Air Force Commander Brig. Gen. Abdirisaaq Mahmoud Haji with a model of the JF-17.
In August, Fiqi made a separate visit to Islamabad, where he signed defense and security arrangements between Pakistan and Somalia.
4th Gen Chinese-Pakistani Fighter Jet
The JF-17 Thunder was developed by Beijing’s state enterprise Chengdu Aircraft Corporation and Islamabad’s Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in the 1990s to provide the Pakistani Air Force with a low-cost fourth-generation combat aircraft.
The 14-meter (47-foot) platform weighs 7,900 kilograms (17,417 pounds) and is built with a 9-meter (30-foot) wingspan.
It is armed with an electronic warfare suite, a 23mm cannon, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, as well as guided and unguided bombs.
The JF-17 uses a Klimov RD-93 turbofan to achieve a flight speed of Mach 1.6 (1,976 kilometers/1,228 miles per hour), reach altitudes up to 16,900 meters (55,446 feet), and cover 1,880 nautical miles (3,482 kilometers/2,163 miles) of operational radius.
