Pakistan’s Ex-Soviet Il-78 Aerial Tankers Land in China to Pick Up Defence Supplies

Defence affairs - Def-Geopolitics on x

Multiple Pakistan Air Force Il-78 aerial refuelling aircraft have been confirmed to have landed at an airbase in China’s Sichuan province on 19–20 January, with two of the aircraft seen parked on the apron before departing the airfield.

Multiple reports have indicated that they were dispatched to receive up supplies for the Pakistan Armed Forces, for which China is by far the largest foreign supplier. The brevity of the aircraft’s time in China indicates a specific logistics-related visit. The Il-78 is a close derivative of the Soviet Il-76 strategic airlifter, and has been widely exported including limited sales to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force. The aircraft play a particularly important role in the Pakistan Air Force due to the service’s exclusive reliance on relatively light single engine fighters with short ranges, as aerial refuelling allows them to conduct longer ranged operations.

Sichuan province hosts several important People’s Liberation Army Air Force installations, as well as production facilities for J-10C fighters which Pakistan has continued to procure to form the elite of its combat fleet. Chinese observers have speculated that the cargo may have included PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles for the J-10C fighters, or YJ-21 hypersonic anti-ship missiles, which were recently seen equipping J-10Cs for the first time. The J-10C fleet gained considerable prestige in 2025 after the aircraft were used in May to shoot down between one and four Indian Air Force Rafale fighters, with the Rafale widely considered to be most capable European fighter type. This was the first time a post-Cold War Chinese fighter type has been involved in high intensity air-to-air operations. Pakistan is reported to currently be considering procuring Chinese J-35 fifth generation fighters, although a change in government in 2022 and the ousting of the Imran Khan administration has shifted its geopolitical alignment away from Beijing and towards the Western Bloc.