Pakistan successfully test-fires 'smart weapon' with day and night capability to hit targets from JF-17 jet

Islamabad: Amidst tensions with India, Pakistan Air Force has announced successfully test-firing an indigenously developed “smart weapon” from a JF-17 Thunder fighter jet to provide it with a very potent day and night capability to engage a variety of targets with pinpoint accuracy. The PAF also said that experiment marked a great milestone for the country as the weapon has been developed, integrated and qualified solely through indigenous efforts of Pakistani scientists and engineers. [caption id=“attachment_6254841” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] JF-17 fighter jet. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] “The successful trial has provided JF-17 Thunder with a very potent and assured day and night capability to engage a variety of targets with pinpoint accuracy,” the PAF said on Tuesday on the fighter jet jointly manufactured by China and Pakistan. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan lauded the efforts of scientists and engineers. He also congratulated the PAF personnel on the achievement of this monumental indigenous capability. “Pakistan is a peace-loving nation but if subjected to aggression by an adversary, we would respond with full force,” the PAF statement quoted Anwar as saying. The exact technical details of the weapon test-fired were not shared by the PAF. The JF-17, which was previously referred to as FC-1 Xiaolong, a single-engine multi-role light fighter was being jointly produced by Pakistan with China for several years with engines supplied by Russia. The trial comes amid tensions between India and Pakistan after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir’s Pulwama district on 14 February. Amid mounting global outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on 26 February. The next day, Pakistan Air Force retaliated and downed a MiG-21 in aerial combat and captured Indian pilot, who was handed over to India on 1 March.