New Fighters for Sudan; Khartoum to Aquire Chinese JL-9 Jets Amid Air Force Modernisation Drive

Sudan’s Defence Ministry has announced that the Air Force is set to acquire six new Chinese JL-9 twin sight fighter trainer jets. The acquisition of the aircraft comes shortly after an order was reportedly placed for Su-35 supermanoeuvrable air superiority fighters, ‘4++ generation’ platforms which are set to provide Khartoum with the most advanced air to air combat capabilities in Africa and the Middle East once they enter service. With Sudan notably lacking sufficient trained pilots to fly the advanced new Russian built aircraft, particularly considering the reported size of the order of up to 40 fighters, placing an order for the JL-9 trainer is was likely done to prepare new batches of Sudanese pilots to operate the Su-35. With its previously relatively meagre air fleet lacking any air superiority platforms whatsoever, relying on dated Soviet era platforms mostly purchased second hand from Belarus and which rarely flew, a new trainer could well be a much needed asset to facilitate the Sudanese Air Force’s modernisation efforts.

Sudan has long been a client for Chinese arms, though its acquisitions of Chinese fighter jets has been relatively limited with Khartoum appearing to favour Russian made combat aircraft.The JL-9 is widely used by the Chinese People’s Liberation Air Force and Navy, and a variant to train carrier pilots, the JL-9G, has also been developed. Low operational costs were prized in the fighter’s development process to maximise the hours pilots can spend in the air while minimising overall training costs. Flying trainers, pilots can gain flight experience at a fraction of the cost as those operating high end combat aircraft. With the JL-9 having been designed to train Chinese operators of the J-11B and Su-30, fighters similar to and based on the same original airframe as the Su-35, the platform is ideal to train Sudanese pilots to operate their new combat aircraft ordered from Russia.

Alongside its role as a trainer, the JL-9 can also double as a single engine light fighter and can reach speeds of Mach 1.5 - only a little slower than the U.S. F-35 fifth generation stealth platform's speed of Mach 1.6. The JL-9's 16,000m operational altitude exceeds that of the U.S. F-16 and F-35, granting the light Chinese made fighter a considerable degree of survivability. It retains a high climb rate of 260m/s. The aircraft can deploy advanced air to air and air to ground munitions on five hard external points, and can carry up to three fuel tanks to extend its range. The use of an advanced pulse doppler radar give the platform high situational awareness, and makes it potentially formidable in medium range air to air engagements. The fighter’s 2000kg payload can include missiles for air to air and air to ground strikes, bombs and rocket pods. Considering Sudan’s need to often perform basic counterinsurgency strikes within its borders, the JL-9 is likely to see combat missions alongside its training function. With Khartoum currently the only party to have acquired the JL-9 from China, whether other parties will follow suite in future due to the aircraft's attractive combination of low acquisition and operational costs and advanced combat capabilities remains to be seen.