How good are Chinese aircraft? Can they last a week long war? Do we wait for a Sino-Taiwan conflict to find out? The F-7 has been highly influenced by reverse engineering the MiG-21
The Dhaka plane crash, which is being referred to as the worst aerial tragedy in Bangladesh in recent years, involved a Chinese-built F-7 BGI that crashed just minutes after it had taken off at 1:06 pm local time.
The F-7 BGI aircraft, one of the ageing air armadas of Bangladesh, is an upgraded variation of China’s Chengdu F-7. It has its roots in the Soviet-era MiG-21, another aircraft that has a habit of crashing.
The Chengdu J-7 fighter aircraft was manufactured between 1965 and 2013 and is still being used largely as an interceptor aircraft in many air forces, including the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. Despite being outdated according to international standards, the F-7 jet is still a mainstay in the Bangladesh Air Force reportedly due to its low price and dependability for pilot training and light combat missions.
The last lot of these planes was supplied by China to Bangladesh in 2013, closing its production line soon after. The Chengdu J-7, also known by its export designation F-7, has a long service history marked by a series of crashes across various air forces that have operated it.
Over the years, numerous incidents involving engine failures, technical malfunctions, and pilot error have been reported. Last month, a Myanmar AF Chengdu J-7 fighter jet crashed under unknown circumstances in Pale township, Safaing region, on June 10. The aeroplane either suffered a technical malfunction or was shot down by the People’s Liberation Army.
Earlier in 2022, a J-7 plane crashed into a residential building in China’s Xiangyang, a city in central China’s Hubei Province. However, the pilot of the crashed plane ejected himself from the aircraft and landed near the local airport.
The last F-7 BGI came off the line in 2013. The F-7 was designed as an interceptor aircraft. It’s optimized for high speed flight. By 2025 February, Bangladesh had 87 combat-capable aircraft, including several variants of the F-7 fighters. The country’s air force had 12 F-7 BGI jets, as well as 11 F-7 BGs and 7 F-7 MB aircraft. Bangladesh also operates a handful of Soviet-era MiG-29 aircraft.
