Pakistan reduces F-16 purchase from US
Nathan Hodge JDW Senior Americas Reporter - Washington, DC
Farhan Bokhari JDW Correspondent - Islamabad
Key Points
Pakistan is to buy 18 new F-16C/D aircraft from the US, waiving an option to acquire 18 more
Budgetary pressures were behind Pakistan's decision; the deal, originally valued at USD3 billion, is now worth USD498 million
Budgetary pressures have forced the Pakistani government to reduce the number of new F-16s that it plans to purchase from the United States, a high-level Pakistani official has told Jane's .
An initial agreement between the two countries covered the purchase of 18 F-16s with an option for an additional 18, but Pakistan chose to drop plans for the optional 18 aircraft when it signed the contract in December 2007. The decision only emerged through the Pakistani media on 23 April.
In 2006, the US Congress approved the sale of 36 new F-16C/D Block 50/52 aircraft to Pakistan as part of a large fighter aircraft modernisation package. When announced, the total value of the F-16 sale - including training, spares and other equipment - was valued at USD3 billion. Pakistan also requested the sale of a USD650 million weapons package, including 500 AIM 120-C5 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), 200 AIM-9M-8/9 Sidewinder missiles and 500 Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits.
However, an official with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) told Jane's on 23 April that the new contract was valued at just USD498 million. "The other 18 [F-16 aircraft] are off the table completely - they are getting 18 and that's it," he said. "They pulled it off the table as part of a review of the contract."
The new contract covered the 18 aircraft and no spares or additional equipment, he said. The order includes 12 single-seat C-model Block 52 aircraft and six two-seat D-model aircraft. The DSCA source said that the sale would include "no [US] government-furnished equipment and no third-party contractor furnished equipment".
The Pakistani source said that "high international oil prices and a domestic economic slowdown" had made the decision unavoidable. "We have to look at every possibility to cut expenditure," he said.
He added that the reduction of the F-16 purchase would not affect the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF's) plans to induct up to 250 of the newly developed JF-17 'Thunder' fighters, jointly developed with China. The PAF plans to induct all the JF-17s by 2013. Negotiations are also continuing for the purchase of China's J-10 fighter aircraft. Pakistani officials have, in the past, said that they are looking at the purchase of between 35 and 40 of the J-10s for between USD1.5 billion and USD1.8 billion.
The US government has attached a number of extraordinary security conditions to the deal to insure against the transfer of sensitive technology. Among other things, US officials conduct semi-annual inventories of all F-16 equipment and munitions and more frequent inventories of AMRAAMs; and F-16 flights outside Pakistan and participation in exercises with other nations are to be approved in advance by the US government.
In 2007, PAF Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed told Jane's that the service was interested in procuring more aircraft from China and that the JF-17 would form the "backbone" of the air force. Western observers also suggested that the reduction in the planned purchase of new F-16s may have been driven by mounting concerns among Pakistani leaders that the US might decide to scale back its weapon sales to the country. This follows concerns that the new US administration, which takes office in 2009, could scrutinise Pakistan's role in the 'war on terror'.
"At the popular level, many Pakistanis simply do not trust the US," said one Western defence analyst based in Islamabad, recalling the US suspension of arms sales to Pakistan in the 1990s. "With that kind of history and background, I would not be surprised - [even] if Pakistan wants access to hi-tech US weapons - that there is concern that the US remains a hard ally to trust."
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Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed: Pakistan's Chief of Air Staff, jdw.janes.com, 30.03.07
US sets security conditions to Pakistan F-16 sale, jdw.janes.com, 21.07.06