Procurement: China Hustles the Classics Out in the Bush

Archives

May 29, 2006: China is finding a market for it's older aircraft in Africa. It has sold fifteen F-7 aircraft to Nigeria for $17 million each. These aircraft are Chinese copies of the Russian MiG-21. With modern radars and air-to-air missiles, these aircraft can still be useful for air defense, because otherwise they are a 1950s design and not very fast or maneuverable by modern standards. China kept upgrading the F-7 until the late 1980s. The F-7 became an eight ton fighter with better maneuverability than the original Russian design, but still had a short range (600 kilometers) and could carry only about a ton of bombs. Basically, the F-7 can't stay in the air more than about two hours per sortie. The Chinese engines wear out quickly, and the aircraft requires a lot of maintenance. But for a country like Nigeria, with no well armed neighbors, the F-7 is a good investment. A modern fighter, whether Russian or American, would cost two to three times as much (even for a used aircraft). China built about 800 F-7s, and still uses several hundred. The ones Nigeria got were probably refurbished aircraft the Chinese once used.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close