Tuesday, April 5 2005 22:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Vowing to maintain both nuclear and conventional deterrence with India, Pakistan today (Apr 5, 2005) launched the joint production of JF-17 fighter aircraft with China, close on the heels of the US decision to supply it F-16 jets.

The launch by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf coincided with the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao beginning today and was conceived by both the countries after flight-testing last year (2005) in China.

"Pakistan would meet its arms requirements for its armed forces for maintaining deterrence in both conventional and non-conventional fields" with India, state-run PTV quoted him as saying.

"Pakistan would not confine to acquiring high-tech weapons but will also explore other options," Musharraf said.

The Pakistan President said that the launch reflected the 'all weather' friendship between the two countries which would be strengthened with the Wen's visit.

Islamabad and Beijing, which have close defence cooperation for over two decades, initiated the JF-17 project several years ago when both the countries struggled to acquire fourth generation aircraft.

The United States, then, was not acceding to Pakistan requests to buy F-16s while China failed to get a new generation aircraft due to sanctions imposed by the European Union.

The new plane failed to make much of an advance, as Russia too did not agree to the request by both the countries to buy the supersonic MIG engines.