The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) claims that no decision has been made regarding the purchase of aircraft for the SLAF yet, despite reports that Pakistan is expected to be pushing hard for a follow-up agreement with Sri Lanka on the purchase of its JF-17 multirole fighter aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader regarding this issue, the Air Force spokesman Group Captain Chandima Alwis said that the evaluation process is still on-going and no decision has been made regarding a decision.
“We are not interested in particular models of aircraft but we are looking at multi role aircraft that would be best suited for our purpose,” he said.
Although numerous news articles had been published regarding the SLAF’s desire to purchase the JF-17 Thunder – a third-generation fighter co-produced by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC), according to the spokesman perhaps certain interested parties are trying to push for this deal by claiming that the deal had been confirmed.
However Group Captain Alwis said that a decision will be taken for the purchase of aircraft to the SLAF as the current fleet is now old. He said that as the war has ended, there was no particular requirement for combat aircraft and there was a greater need for aircraft that could be used for multiple purposes.
Meanwhile it was also reported that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka this week, and this issue is likely to be high on his agenda.
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