Project Sabre II
Project Sabre II was the Pakistan Air Force's program to develop a feasible and low-cost multirole combat jet based on an existing design—the Chengdu F-7 Skybolt, a Chinese variant of the MiG–21. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) initiated Project Sabre II in 1987, hiring the American aerospace firm Grumman, to provide crucial expertise to refine the baseline aircraft design along with specialists from the PAF and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). After studying the Sabre II concept with Grumman, the PAF terminated the program as unfeasible on economic grounds. Grumman withdrew from the project after sanctions were imposed by the United States on China after Beijing's suppression of the Tiananmen Square student protests in 1989. An embargo on military aid to Pakistan imposed by the United States further hampered the Sabre II development effort in the 1990s. In 1995, Pakistan and China began a collaboration which led to the successful JF-17 Thunder program. Program overview Origins In 1982, the Indian Air Force (IAF) procured the MiG-29 Fulcrum from the Soviet Union to modernize its fighter aircraft fleet. As a result, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) began looking for new technology to replace its aging fighters. By 1984, the PAF's F-7P (Chengdu F-7) fighters were equipped with western electronic systems. The PAF began developing an improved version of the F-7M to replace its large fleet of F-6 fighters. The Pakistan Air Force started looking for a new fighter to replace their large fleet of Shenyang F-6 fighters, as they approached the end of their service lives in the late 1980s. After showing interest in the F-7M, the Air HQ of the Pakistan Air Force initiated Project Sabre–II to the develop a low-cost multirole fighter jet on the model of the F-7M. Design feasibility In January 1987, the Pakistan Air Force commissioned New York-based Grumman Aerospace to conduct studies and assess the feasibility of the Sabre II design concept with Pakistani aerial specialists and the Chinese Chengdu Aircraft corporation. After five to seven months, the group concluded that the financial risks caused by very high project costs, and the availability of more cost-effective options outweighed the potential benefits from technology transfer from the US to the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, increasing its experience and technical knowledge. Grumman, the Pakistan Air Force and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) created the Sabre II concept by radically upgrading the F-7M. Changes included upgrades to its avionics suite, radar system and engine, and a redesigned forward fuselage. The PAF stated that the Sabre II would replace around 150 F-6s in combat service. A picture showed that the F-7's nose inlet had been replaced with a solid nose radome and a new pair of air inlets were mounted on the sides of the fuselage under the cockpit. Under Project Sabre II and the Chinese Super-7 project, the F-7 airframe was redesigned with angled air intakes on the sides of the fuselage so a solid radome nose could house radar and other avionics