PAF F-7 Jet crashes, pilot killed

Islamabad, Sep 5: A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-7 fighter jet crashed near Quetta today killing the pilot.

The Chinese-origin jet was on a routine mission when it crashed following technical problems, PAF officials said.

The air headquarter has constituted an inquiry board to ascertain the exact causes of the crash.

Pakistan, which is flying several build-in-China jets including F-7s, is currently replacing the ageing jets with the Chinese JF-17 (Thunder) aircraft.

The PAF has already inducted two JF-17s while such six more aircraft will be inducted by the end of this year. The two countries have jointly manufactured the jet which had its inaugural flight in China's Chengdu city on May 10 last year, almost 14 years after the two countries began working on the project.

Pakistan is also set to induct 22 pre-used F-16s by end of 2008 and 18 brand new same jets of upgraded C and D versions by second quarter of 2010.

The PAF's fleet of fighter jets consists of F-16 multi-role jets, Mirages and Chinese F-7s, F-7PGs and A-5s and K-8 jet trainers.

UNI