Azerbaijan has increased its order of Pakistni JF-17 Thunder fighter jets from 16 to 40 in a move that is expected to alter the military balance in the volatile South Caucasus region.
The agreement is part of a broader $4.6 billion defence deal, which also includes a $2 billion investment package, as officially announced by the Pakistani government on its social media platforms. Being a single-engine, multirole aircraft, the cost effective JF-17 Thunder, also known as the FC-1 Xiaolong, has been developed by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC).
Baku’s purchase of these fourth-generation aircaft marks the largest defence agreement in Pakistan’s military history, surpassing Islamabad’s earlier sales to countries like Myanmar and Nigeria. The development also marks a substantial enhancement of Azerbaijan’s air defences and deepens its military ties with Pakistan, a key arms supplier alongside Turkey, Russia, and Israel.
Furthermore, the deal sets off alarm bells in neigbhouring Armenia that lost a war with Azerbaijan in 2022. Baku’s expansion of military aircraft stockpile weakens defence position of Armenia, which has only received four Su-30SM Flanker fighters from Russia to this date. After acquiring 40 JF-17s from Pakistan, Azerbaijan will have ten times more fighters than Armenia—and that’s not even counting its current fleet of MiG-29s or its extensive and expanding arsenal of advanced Israeli and Turkish drones. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Armenia has relied on Russia for the ninety-four percent of its arms deliveries between 2011 and 2022. Since its devastating loss in the war with Azerbaijan in 2020, Armenia has diversified its defence sources, brining imports from Russia to as low as 10 percent in 2024. Yervan has since then relied on France and India for weapons imports.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last month blamed the war in Ukraine for the delay in arms delivery to Armenia during his two-day visit to Yerevan.
