F-20 Tigershark

[Raider 21]

An F-20 Tigershark was even painted in PAF colours and displayed in Pakistan however it was rejected in the favour of F-16 Falcons.

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It was evaluated after the Falcons came.

 

[Windjammer]

It was evaluated after the Falcons came.

US was pushing for PAF to buy the F-20, once rejected the Americans offered F-16/J-79 which was downgraded version of the Falcon but Pakistan wouldn't settle for anything less than the standard version.
There was no point in testing the F-20 after the arrival of the Falcons.

 

[Sine Nomine]

An F-20 Tigershark was even painted in PAF colours and displayed in Pakistan however it was rejected in the favour of F-16 Falcons.

View attachment 451105

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If in house production was coming with it,then going for F-16 was pretty much a blunder,almost 4 decades and still we are dependent on US.

 

[Raider 21]

US was pushing for PAF to buy the F-20, once rejected the Americans offered F-16/J-79 which was downgraded version of the Falcon but Pakistan wouldn't settle for anything less than the standard version.
There was no point in testing the F-20 after the arrival of the Falcons.

The F-16/79 was offered before that by the Carter administration to everyone who wanted the F-16 outside the USA. Reagan administration approved the sale of regular F-16s to export countries. The F-20 was seen as the "other jet" to be sold by Northrop (US Government did not fund the project as opposed to the F-16 program) that Pakistan could have benefited from especially from the license production clause. 40 F-16s were coming in instead by two deals, and the small blunder came with them not ordering or pushing hard enough to acquire AIM-7 Sparrows for BVR capability. According 2-3 PAF Viper drivers I have spoken to.....if they ever had that capability they would have shot down close to 30 aircraft during the Soviet Afghan war as opposed to 8 (9 including the friendly kill).

Well those are the events I am aware of, regardless of US-Pakistan relationships, the F-16 was a great investment for PAF.

 

[Windjammer]

The F-16/79 was offered before that by the Carter administration to everyone who wanted the F-16 outside the USA. Reagan administration approved the sale of regular F-16s to export countries. The F-20 was seen as the "other jet" to be sold by Northrop (US Government did not fund the project as opposed to the F-16 program) that Pakistan could have benefited from especially from the license production clause. 40 F-16s were coming in instead by two deals, and the small blunder came with them not ordering or pushing hard enough to acquire AIM-7 Sparrows for BVR capability. According 2-3 PAF Viper drivers I have spoken to.....if they ever had that capability they would have shot down close to 30 aircraft during the Soviet Afghan war as opposed to 8 (9 including the friendly kill).

Well those are the events I am aware of, regardless of US-Pakistan relationships, the F-16 was a great investment for PAF.

As far as PAF was concerned Carter administration only offered the A-7 Corsairs however the deal fell through.
Regan offered the downgraded version of the F-16 which the PAF rejected.
Even when the first Falcons landed in Saudia from where the PAF pilots ferry them, some issue was found with the radars thus the aircraft remained stranded until US assured to address the issue.
And yes under the circumstances, Pakistan could have pushed harder for other gadgets....and yes indeed for over 35 years the F-16 has certainly been making ripples in the sub continent.

 

[Raider 21]

As far as PAF was concerned Carter administration only offered the A-7 Corsairs however the deal fell through.
Regan offered the downgraded version of the F-16 which the PAF rejected.
Even when the first Falcons landed in Saudia from where the PAF pilots ferry them, some issue was found with the radars thus the aircraft remained stranded until US assured to address the issue.
And yes under the circumstances, Pakistan could have pushed harder for other gadgets....and yes indeed for over 35 years the F-16 has certainly been making ripples in the sub continent.

A-7s, then A-10s (which would have been great now but back then they needed multirole), then F-5Es, then F-16/79s before reaching the F-16As (even though F-16Cs had already started by then). Absolutely when the jets landed in Saudi they were flown in by USAF and General Dynamics pilots as until that leg of the journey the jets were under American control with US markings. The second leg from Saudi Arabia involved PAF pilots. Yes I agree, great jet from where it started to where it is today.

 

[PradoTLC]

The latter would have been nice. Pakistan was really lucky that war didn't break out with India in the 90's and early 2000's.

Sort of makes me wonder if the right steps are being taken currently in terms of procurement.

Then again hindsight is as always 20/20.

well the indian airforce was in very poor shape in the late 1990s from personnel going on strike, low defense budget and poor maint. some sqdn. were reporting a low serviceability of 30%