I would disagree here
I would strongly discourage any more F16 purchase, no more please we have had enough
as a matter of fact we should now slowly wean ourselves off all American equipment like Turkey has been doing for last 20 years and move to China + Turkey, Turkey is now a super advanced country in terms of military hardware ahead of Europeans in some cases
only reason why F16 got the kill on 27th Feb is because its still the main weapon of choice for PAF simply because of its better situational awareness with Erieye + Falcon EW, it gave the F16 a chance no other aircraft could have and this is why it was at the back of the strike package
however with introduction of the Block III + ASEA it can now have better situational awareness than any F16, especially if we can get the ZDK-03 upgrade done to merge with Block III
the F16 will remain at the core of the PAF offensive strategy only until the Block III numbers are sufficient after that Block III will take this role
remember what the air chief was saying in the latest statements, Block III is a very big deal
Hi.
Thank you for your response.
Block 3 is a very big deal however who can say with any assurance it is good enough to deter the IAF from a misadventure like an updated fleet of 16s can? I am looking at the current fleet of the PAF and I see no way around the 16 issue for various reasons.
A. Ready trained pilots.
B. Familiarity with the platform and 3 decades of experience.
C. A stated need for the platform to remain with us till 2050 if not longer.
So if you look at it realistically it is THE viable option unless it is totally denied to us.
What you are suggesting now requires new infrastructure build up of another 4th generation platform which could well take us/another decade to get used to the way we have gotten used to the 16s. The time and generation of fighters is about to change so by the time we get used to it it may well start becoming obsolete as the mirages have now become. The only reason for retaining the M3/5s is availability of spares and trained manpower as well as a designated niche role. To do that to the 16s would make sense as we already have a sizeable fleet but to get a newer platform does not make sense to me at least.
Moving towards Turkey and China is fine but realistically it is only China that can fulfill our needs in the aviation sector. I would say even China will start looking after its interests and these may not always coincide. The T129 saga has taught us one lesson to not go for a multi vendor product which stands for what most of Turkish products are so Turkey in aviation sector will not be very helpful.
Short of 5th gen/quasi 5th gen platform which both China and Turkey are currently not fielding there is no advantage in going to the two at the moment.
I am/sure the prospect of sanction will rear its head but I ask you how effective will a sanction be when you have a fleet of 100+ platforms be with a thriving spares market(even a black market). You can safeguard your interests by small parts manufacturing contract and the fact that the US hae moved on from the 16s to 22/35s make it less likely that sanctions will be a problem.
One other factor that will be raised is the US cazying up to Dhotiland. Whereas that is true the 27/02 fiasco has assured us the US will not have any qualms about the loss of a few( thousand) dhotis or Shalwars. The US LOOKS AFTER its own interests and the prospect of an AMRAAM taking down another platform is the best publicity for them. Their pats on the back of the PAF contingent at the time of IK visit to US was a testament to that.
So in my humble opinion while the thought of moving away from the US is all good in principle the realityof it is we are at least 1-1.5 decades away from it. It makes sense (proviso of availability being a big if!!) to stick with the types we have and wait for our 5th generation offering. The fate of Pakistan is tied to having credible deterrence at a modest cost while increasing its purchasing power. J10 is not the answer to that conundrum.
Kind regards
A
JF-17 b3 carries far more than that meets the eye and a lot of bangs to the bucks. It has integrated F35 Like technologies except stealth. It shines more a part of the team than a solo heavyweight in the changing war paradigms of net centric air operations. Once fully operational it can easily blow out any 4th gen fighter in the sky and Indian rafale is no exception to this que.
As far as I am concerned these accolades are a bit premature. So respectfully we need to wait till the platform is inducted and we have a better idea about its capqbilities from PAF itself. The ACM in his recent speech talked about Block2 doing well against the Chinese platforms but how well and in what specific spheres against what capabilities from the other side.
Let us be patient. We will know one way or another. I am as excited about block 3 as everyone else is but safety and objectivity demands evaluation and that has not yet happened.
Regards
