The Sino-Pak fighter deal is under threat due to Moscow's refusal to allow China the deliveries of warbirds to Pakistan with Russian engines.
MOSCOW: The Sino-Pak fighter deal is under threat due to Moscow's refusal to allow China the deliveries of warbirds to Pakistan with Russian engines even as Beijing is mounting pressure to include Islamabad in the military customers list, a media report said on Tuesday.
China has appealed to Russia to include Pakistan in the list of countries with which Moscow has military -technological trade partnerships. Otherwise, China cannot fulfill its contract for the delivery of FC-1 fighter planes with Russian engines to Pakistan, Kommersant daily reported.
China signed an agreement with Pakistan to deliver 150 FC-1 jets under the name JF-17 Thunder.
A Chinese delegation is arriving here for negotiations which will insist that Pakistan be included in the list of countries with which Russia has agreed to conduct military-technical trade, the report said adding otherwise, Beijing will have to default on its contract for delivery of FC-1fighter jets to Pakistan.
The FC-1, also known as the Super-7, the first Chinese multirole fighter, is designed for the international market.
Chengdu Aircraft Industry began the development of the plane in the early 1990s. Around 50 percent of the cost -- USD 75 million -- was borne by Pakistan, the daily said.
China's National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation, Pakistan's Aviation Integrated Company, Israel's IAI, and Russia's OKB-Mikoyan Engineering Center all took part in the project. The FC-1 made its first flight in August 2003.
However, under the existing contract with Beijing, Russia has agreed to fit only Chinese fighter jets with Russian engines.
"Unfortunately for Beijing, according to an addendum to the contract, China does not have the right to re-export planes with Russian engines to a third country," the report said.
Also, "Pakistan is not included in the list of countries with whom Russia has military-technological trade meaning thereby that re-export of Russian military goods to Pakistan is not possible," state-run arms trader Rosoboronexport was quoted as saying by the daily.
"The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS) confirmed that it did not intend to include Pakistan. Including Pakistan could harm relations with India with which Russia has signed an agreement not to deliver military technology to Islamabad," Kommersant said.
Experts in the field believe that China will not succeed in getting a concession from Russia on the issue of re-export and that it will have to seek a compromise with Pakistan, it said.
"Russia will never give China the right to re-export its military technology to Pakistan, since that would threaten its multibillion dollar contracts with India," believes Russia/CIS Observer editor Maxim Pyadushkin.
"However, Beijing will never drop the FC-1 program. The most important thing for the China is to get RD-93 engines that it can reverse engineer in the future, like they do with everything in China."
"In the opinion of experts, Beijing will most likely offer Islamabad either another plane or return its money for the development of FC-I," the daily said.
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