Pakistan Air Force has started the state of the art weapon testing range in Sonmiani with the cooperation of China. The inauguration ceremony was managed by PAF and the Air Chief Marshall Sohail Aman and other high rank officials of PAF attended the ceremony. The missile firing prowess of JF-17 Thunder was tested there and it was witnessed live at newly built firing range in Sonmiani.

JF 17B prototype 2

The WTR was made operational with the trial testing of JF-17 PL-5EII infrared guided air to air missile and SD-10 AAM as both are the shooting down low speed targets beyond the visual range and they have the pinpoint accuracy. They have the real time tracking to allow PAF to watch their targets at all times with the performance tracking of indigenous fighter jet JF-17.

Pakistan armed forces have been on move to up ante in terms of the arsenal and it is highly sophisticated WTR, which is the continuation of efforts of PAF in order to strengthen the defense of the country. The instrument testing range can be used to rest and evaluate local and imported ammunition. The range tracks the real time trajectories of fired missiles and the aircrafts to make them important and vital part of PAF operations.

Real time tracking 1 jpg

Remarks of Air Chief Marshall

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshall, Sohail Aman said that it is the breakthrough achievement and this day marked as the monumental episode in the wonderful and bright history of PAF. PAF has made the state of the art Weapon Test Range operational to track the complete trajectory of aircraft and the missiles. He further added that they thanked to Almighty Allah for giving the strength to get this milestone. The successful testing of the sophisticated weapons is the testimony of JF-17 thunder multirole capabilities.

Sonmiani WTR 01

He also stressed that another squadron has been added and it is also equipped with JF-17 Thunder, which is the 6^th squadron up from 5 in 2017 and no further information was given about this new squadron.