Eventhough our f16s are capable of carrying a wide range of weapons , however we can only use the weapons allowed by the u.s -- not the whole variety of wesapons .. neither can be integrate our own solutions in place of these unreleased weapon systems on the f16s -- this is one aspect where the jft is more lethal , not to mention it can be upgraded whenever we can --- secondly we have less number of f16s and we would like to use all of them in offensive purposes rather than defensive sorties babysitting 2nd gen fighters
We would love to have a nice ratio of these systems which dont break our economic back , however the high capabilty fighters should be higher in number
jft blk1 : jft blk2/3 : f16 : j10 : jx?
the arguments of a small country having 5-6 heavy planes is null and void as paf is a far bigger force and would like to have a minumum of 2-3 squadrons of a fighter.. not 5-6 jets
the growth potential of jft is a lot .. however it depends on paf on how much extent they want to invest in the block3 of jft to keep it cost effective -- the cut off value where they would rather get more j10b
however if you compare it to grippen , jft blk1 is very close to grippen c/d -- keep in mind jft blk2 is coming mid 2012
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shahzadasweet
please dont use capital letters , its considered shouting in forum language
jft are 4/4.5 gen fighters .. they are not 5th gen fighters , nor can be converted to 5th gen fighters ... so stop comparing jft to pakfa
one thing to high light is paf is going from 2nd gen to 4/4.5 gen multirole fighters in a single step ..... which is a Massive step forward ... after which most of the systems on both sides of the border would be in the same generation / capabilty ----- till pakfa gets inducted