Project Sabre II
Project Sabre II was the Pakistan Air Force's program to develop a feasible and low-cost multirole combat jet based on an existing design—the Chengdu F-7 Skybolt, a Chinese variant of the MiG–21. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) initiated Project Sabre II in 1987, hiring the American aerospace firm Grumman, to provide crucial expertise to refine the baseline aircraft design along with specialists from the PAF and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). After studying the Sabre II concept with Grumman, the PAF terminated the program as unfeasible on economic grounds. Grumman withdrew from the project after sanctions were imposed by the United States on China after Beijing's suppression of the Tiananmen Square student protests in 1989. An embargo on military aid to Pakistan imposed by the United States further hampered the Sabre II development effort in the 1990s. In 1995, Pakistan and China began a collaboration which led to the successful JF-17 Thunder program. Program overview Origins In 1982, the Indian Air Force (IAF) procured the MiG-29 Fulcrum from the Soviet Union to modernize its fighter aircraft fleet. As a result, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) began looking for new technology to replace its aging fighters. By 1984,