November 4,2008:
Venezuela is buying 18 K-8 jet trainers from China. Also known as the
JL-8, it uses the 770 pound, 9.5 foot
long Ukrainian Motor Sich AI-25TLK (3,300 pounds of thrust) jet engines, to power
the 4.3 ton, two seat aircraft. Originally, China was going to use 3600 pound
thrust American engines, but after the 1989 Chinese crackdown on pro-democracy groups,
the United States cut off the supply of engines. This encouraged China to
design and build a similar engine (the
WS-11). But China has had a hard time mastering the precise technologies and
manufacturing techniques needed to build jet engines. So it has been buying the
AI-25TLK instead.
The K-8
entered service in 1994, and over 500 have been built. The aircraft can be
fitted with a 23mm cannon, and carry nearly a ton of missiles and bombs. Egypt
and Pakistan also use the K-8, and Venezuela will begin receiving them in about
two years.