Azerbaijan inducts JF-17 fighters from Pakistan

Four single-seat and one twin-seat JF-17 combat aircraft overfly Baku during Azerbaijan's Victory Day parade on 8 November. These aircraft have seemingly now been transferred from the Pakistan Air Force to the Azerbaijan Air Force and Air Defence Force. (President of the Republic of Azerbaijan)

Azerbaijan has inducted into its inventory Pakistan Aeronautical Complex/Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (PAC/CAC) JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft, the office of the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan has indicated.

Four single-seat and one twin-seat JF-17 aircraft were filmed and photographed flying over the capital city of Baku during the 8 November Victory Day parade. The backseat occupant of the lead twin-seat aircraft was identified from the patches he was wearing in an image separately posted online as being Colonel Novruz Tahirov of the Azerbaijan Air Force (AzAF) and Air Defence Force, while the aircraft themselves were seemingly devoid of national markings.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) flew five JF-17 Block III aircraft to Azerbaijan for joint exercises in October. At that time, the airframes sported the national flag of Pakistan and serial number on the tail (and the same serial number on the forward fuselage), as well as PAF roundels on the wings.

For the parade, the Pakistani flag and PAF roundels had been removed from all the aircraft, while the serial numbers remained on the tail and forward fuselage. Serial number 24-322 was identifiable on an aircraft in both the PAF video of the aircraft arriving in Azerbaijan in full PAF markings and of it participating in the flypast devoid of Pakistani markings, seeming to confirm that these are the same airframes. While visibly present, the serial numbers of the other aircraft were not clear enough in the footage to be identifiable.