July28 delivery of F16

[HAIDER]

 

[JK!]

Why is Pakistan going for so many F16Bs ?

 

[QADRI]

can any body tell that how F-16B or any other twin seater fighter is more beneficial than single seater...plz.

 

[shehbazi2001]

can any body tell that how F-16B or any other twin seater fighter is more beneficial than single seater...plz.

Although B model has somewhat less fuel than A model and it evidently affects its deep strike capability, the two seater is beneficial in close air combat or dogfights.

Its said that two pairs of eyes are better than a single pair of eyes.

In a dogfight, the role of ground radar is not more important than pilot himself. The ground radar may be helpful while executing an interception geometry or going in for the dogfight. Once dogfight starts, pilot mostly relies on his own sensors, his own eyes and his aircraft instruments.

To give an example, Sqn Ldr Khalid Mahmood lost an opportunity to become ace due a false alarm of the ground radar. Ground radar ordered him to break , and thus he lost the opportunity to do more shooting. This was during Afghan war of Soviet Occupation.

Khalid could have seen any lock on his Radar Warning Receiver. He should have neglected the false alarm and should have relied on his own sensors.


The presence of a second pilot or Weapons Systems Officer (WSO) or Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) shall ameliorate this situation. Instead of depending on ground radar or even AEW aircraft, second member shall focus on threats on his Radar Warning Receiver, shall employ jammer when required, can control the release of chaff/flares/towed decoys etc.

Also the fighters have multi-functional displays ie a single display can be used for navigation, stores management (weapons), engine and fuel situation, tactical situation displays etc but only one at a time.

The presence of second crew has also the advantage that if pilot is keeping an eye on navigation display and following the waypoints, the second member can monitor the radar picture ....

Mirages and Sabres have been doing strike missions cross the border and they were single seaters. More advantage of F-16B seems in dogfights, but they can also help in interdiction strikes.

 

[x_man]

Why is Pakistan going for so many F16Bs ?

Well, as far as the operational capability is concerned, there is absolutely no difference between A and B models ….B is as lethal as A..

But your question is still very valid, why so many Bs? The reasons can be many, Shehbazi has pointed out some in his post , while few others that come across my mind are:-

1...PAF can now convert more pilots on F-16s because of more seats available on F-16 fleet..

2...Cost effectiveness as per experience on the type...2 guys can get the experience for the price of 1...

3..Keeping in mind the past track record of American mood swings, where F-16 fleet was hit by embargoes and fleet flying hours were reduced: it is good to keep as many guys getting the flying during those hard times....

4..PAF might be considering getting more F-16s in future and want to generate a pool of pilots that can used when and as required....

5..Unlike past, next generation PAF will have the fighters that all radar (AI) and BVR equipped , F-16A/B is a good and cost effective platform to train as many pilots on radar and then moving on to enhanced F-16 models ( C/D) or JF-17 or J-10 or whatever.....

6...PAF may raise another F-16 A/B squadron elsewhere and the B-models are equally divided...

7...There are no more A models left...therefore we are keep getting the Bs .( just a wild thought..)

As far as the pilots point of view, one always loves to fly single seat than a dual seat fighter....The GIBS ( guy in the back seat) can sometimes be a real pain in the back and keeps bugging you with his instruction or continuous commentary ( I remember turning off the cockpit intercom OFF few times when the GIBS went too pesty or all ballistic).....Its like when you are driving a car and someone next to you keep bothering you with his/her instructions...Although, one cannot deny the training value of dual seaters but I think that we had enough of them....lets get some more As...or Cs...

 

[fatman17]

Why is Pakistan going for so many F16Bs ?

the answer lies in the F-16MLU thread

 

[fatman17]

x_man there are nearly 350 de-commissioned F-16A/Bs parked at AMRAC in arizona.

 

[x_man]

SIr, I can definitely spot few of them here..

 

[IceCold]

I am never able to understand what our top military brass liked about this piece of junk anyways specially after more then three decades of its development. One factor that i can see of is the cost factor however one must also realize the strings attached to it or for that matter the kind of leverage that this decision taken by us gives to the US over Pakistan. To me its looks more of a shackle landing in Pakistan and not a jet. F-16 sucks. The more i see it the more it pisses me off.

 

[Munir]

I have been there in USA and actaully saw the PAF f16's parked there... Did look strane cause some where being refited to join Navy. So I did witness history... I have lots of pics of ANG F16's but most of them are block30+ and there are none exported as block 30 so if you buy these you have only US as source... They do have lots of hours so it is inefficient and they had los of different modifications so you end up with to many different versions... I can undersand why our ACM selects ex PAF planes first.

btw. PAF planes returning to USA had tough carreer... Lots of local changes. And even different parts. As said on Pakdef... 2 of ex USAF f16's are send directly to Hill to be the first to F16B-mlu. They will be ready a lot earlier then those PAF sended...