On 06 June 2025, the Authorities of Pakistan introduced that it finalized a landmark sale of 40 JF-17 Thunder multirole fighters to Azerbaijan in a deal valued at as much as USD $4.6 billion.
This announcement (which was initially posted on the social media platform X, however deleted not too long ago) was the primary definitive affirmation of each the Azeri JF-17 deal and several other key specifics, notably the overall value and the variety of plane concerned.
The sale just isn’t solely the only largest third-party export order of the JF-17 up to now, however additionally it is Pakistan’s largest single export order as effectively. Efforts to safe this order date again to not less than 2019, when the Pakistan Air Pressure (PAF) initiated a marketing campaign to promote its mainstay multirole fighter to Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Argentina.
Nonetheless, the online income share returning to Pakistan is not going to embrace most of the high-value inputs, such because the turbofan engine, metal for the airframe, radar and different subsystems, and the manufacturing workshare of Pakistan Aeronautical Complicated’s (PAC) essential companion, the Aviation Trade Company of China (AVIC).
That stated, even when the industrial worth of the Azeri deal is comparatively restricted to Pakistan, it may nonetheless provide a boon to the Pakistan Air Pressure (PAF) in quite a few different methods, not least in securing a crucial funding observe for the continued improvement and customization of the JF-17.
