Nigeria intends to revive the combat capabilities of its Air Force. Yesterday, March 24, the portal defenseworld.net He announced that the first of the three JF-17 Thunder fighters ordered had arrived in Nigeria.
At the same time, the portal africanmilitaryblog.com indicates that all three fighters have arrived at Makudri Air Base. They were delivered by an IL-76 transport aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force in a partially disassembled form — with the wing parts detached.
Video of unloading IL-76 of the Pakistan Air Force
Also in social networks, a video is distributed with the JF-17 Thunder fighter when it is unloaded in the hangar
The terms of Nigeria's purchase of the Sino-Pakistani fighter jets were not disclosed. Earlier, the Committee for Economic Coordination (ECC) of the Government of Pakistan approved the delivery of three JF-17 Thunder Block II fighter jets to Nigeria for $184.3 million. This amount should also include logistics, training and weapons. According to unofficial data, the cost of one JF-17 Thunder Block II without weapons is about $40 million. According to the commander of the Nigerian Air Force, Sadiq Abubakar, a total of 22 JF-17 Thunder fighters are planned to be purchased.
JF-17 Thunder is the Pakistani designation for the aircraft, which has been developed by the Chinese company CAC (Chengdu Aircraft Corporation) with the financial support of Pakistan since the 90s. In China, the machine is known as the Chengdu FC-1 Xiaolong and is built on the basis of copies and modifications of aircraft built on the basis of the Soviet MiG-21.
