Project Sabre II

Project Sabre II was the <a href="/facts/Pakistan_Air_Force/Tnbsp4p7">Pakistan Air Force</a>'s program to develop a feasible and <a href="/facts/No_frills/YPBV7ry3">low-cost</a> <a href="/facts/Multirole_combat_aircraft/8l6FfCI9">multirole</a> <a href="/facts/Fighter_jet/NuIvaGJg">combat jet</a> based on an existing design—the <a href="/facts/Chengdu_J-7/SCaeMnrS">Chengdu F-7 Skybolt</a>, a <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Liberation_Army_Air_Force/QW1epsTb">Chinese</a> variant of the <a href="/facts/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21/AJT2EjY5">MiG–21</a>. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) initiated Project Sabre II in 1987, hiring the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">American</a> aerospace firm <a href="/facts/Grumman_Aerospace_Corporation/0qsyLV6J">Grumman</a>, to provide crucial expertise to refine the baseline <a href="/facts/Aircraft_design_process/IdeNRgwQ">aircraft design</a> along with specialists from the PAF and the <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Liberation_Army_Air_Force/QW1epsTb">Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF)</a>.
After studying the Sabre II concept with Grumman, the PAF terminated the program as unfeasible on economic grounds. Grumman withdrew from the project after <a href="/facts/Sanctions_(law)/tVGF40J8">sanctions</a> were imposed by the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> on <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Republic_of_China/lTjIXY5p">China</a> after Beijing's suppression of the <a href="/facts/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989/WzL9ceHB">Tiananmen Square protests of 1989</a>. <a href="/facts/Larry_Pressler/VtkWUjwE">An embargo on military aid to Pakistan</a> imposed by the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> further hampered the Sabre II development effort in the 1990s.[self-published source] In 1995, Pakistan and China began a collaboration which led to the successful <a href="/facts/CAC%2fPAC_JF-17_Thunder/BjlfQen6">JF-17 Thunder</a> program.

Project Sabre II open-in-new

Project Sabre II