Pak air force to acquire Chinese F-7 fighters

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 26: The Pakistan Air Force is planning to acquire F-7 MG fighter aircraft from China to upgrade its fleet. No new aircraft have been inducted into the force for more than six years. Air Chief Marshal Pervez Mehdi Qureshi said Pakistan “should not ignore its conventional capability”, emphasising that, “the critical deficiency of a high-tech aircraft in our force structure remains to be redressed”.

Addressing the Air War College in Karachi, Qureshi said that after achieving the nuclear equilibrium with India, “Pakistan cannot afford to scale down conventional capability”. Despite being “the ultimate” in destructive capability, he pointed out, nuclear weapons have never been used in any conflict since the World War II, not even in the long drawn wars of Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. A weaker conventional capability, he said, “may invite aggression”.