CHI RULES
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What you fail to mention is that for a country like Pakistan American hardware is always sanction prone. The Americans change their mind every other day. It all depends on their mood.
Pakistan cannot rely on such a supplier. Even if the supplier has the best hardware available. What good is superior hardware without logistics, spares etc.?
Pakistan must at all cost diversify and look at Chinese and Russian options. Since Pakistan has paid for the AH1Z order it will accept the delivery at any stage. That doesn't mean we should rely on an unreliable supplier like the US. Even if the Russian/Chinese helicopters are inferior or lack on certain levels they are worth it. A better deal for Pakistan would be to setup some sort of JV with China or Russia and produce the helicopters domestically.
Dear member some sort of JV involves though at basic level in case of Turkish helicopters and Pak do not have sufficient facilities/infrastructure to start manufacturing every hardware within country. The resources already booked/allocated to manufacture JF17 and in long run next gen fighter. It's easy to say but difficult to implement in country like Pakistan where absolutely no or only basic level infrastructure is available we do not have giants like Tata group or others in case of India.
Pakistan has two options one is to field large number of attack helicopters with inferior capabilities or to keep a small fleet with capable helicopters. The Pak path for limited inductions but quality stuff is more viable. Moreover Pak has survived sanctions in the past and they were able to keep their F16s operational. The only time PAF face difficulty was during/after Kargil war and it was due to purely strategic issues as sufficient spares were not stored by PAF as they were not informed by PA about their role or challenges expected during operation. Now PAF management has learned their lesson and are more prepared for such situations.
In same way Pak has means and resources to keep the AH1Z cobras operational even some strict sanctions are imposed in near future if AH1Z is delivered.
The classic examples of self reliance to keep stuff operational include Iran keeping their F14s, F4s and F5s along with old super cobras operational for almost four decades and now they are producing their clones, meanwhile Pak has kept their Mirage fleet operational.
Further in order to counter such situations Pakistan should rely on two to three types of Jats and attack helicopters.
Believe me it is also majority opinion that if Pakistan starts to launch superior JF17 Block-III then certainly they may get upgrade option for F16s from USA also. The time is to play your cards in better way in international arena rather than denying quality stuff.
Thanks for correction, further considering your experience and know how you should start a detailed discussion about South African hardware and it's capabilities. The information about South African attack helicopter( I shall rather avoid to spell it), Marlin BVR, Umokhonto ER etc is available at limited scale. Further reasons so far on Pak side for not considering much stuff from South Africa... rooivalk.... Rooi-> Red; Valk -> Falcon. Rooivlack - means something vulgar.