China Is World's Third Largest Fighter Aircraft Exporter: Russian Think Tank

China has emerged as the third-largest exporter of fighter planes in the list of world’s top fighter plane exporters prepared by Russian think tank.  

The country has handed over 92 fighter planes with a total US$2.03 billion to foreign buyers. The fighter planes also include 51 planes worth US$830 million to Pakistan, the largest buyer in 2011.

Further in next four years, the country likely supplies another 40 fighters to Pakistan, worth a total of US$1.2 billion, Huanqiu.com, the Chinese-language website of China’s nationalistic Global Times newspaper quoted a Russian think tank in its report on Sunday.

The US has been the world’s top exporter of fighter aircraft from past four years as it has exported 149 fighters worth US$13.4 billion. Further, the country has orders in hand for 221 planes that has worth of US$31 billion for the next four years.

The second is Russia with exports of 188 planes over the period worth US$7.8 billion with orders for 157 planes worth US$8 billion for the next four years. The nation’s prospective clients are China, Kazakhstan, Egypt and Vietnam.

The United Kingdom was one step behind China, exporting 28 planes worth a total US$4.38 billion over the past four years. The country is also expected to supply another 38 fighters worth US$7.27 billion in the coming four years.

France ranked fifth, mainly supplying fighters to Egypt, Qatar and India, and is expected to export 36 more, worth US$6.6 billion, in the next four years.

Sweden followed, exporting 21 planes worth US$1.26 billion over the past four years, mainly to to South Africa and Thailand, and with orders for 12 planes, worth US$1.4 billion, in hand for the next four years.

All the predictions which were made for next four years have been made on the assumption of a stable global economy, the think tank added.