Pakistan to purchase 36 French fighters worth $ 4.2 Billion
* PAF chief says contract should be signed within 12 months
* PAF team evaluated fighter for past 2 years
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will start getting 36 Rafale fighters from 2015 onwards, Chief of Air Staff Rao Qamar Suleman said on Thursday.
Briefing reporters on the on-going High Mark-2010 Exercise by PAF in collusion with the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy, the air chief said the delivery of the aircrafts to Pakistan would complete by the end of 2016.
He said, in addition to 36 Rafales , Pakistan had also been negotiating to get French MICA missile and Radar for JF-17, besides getting other modern gadgets and weapons.
He said the new inductions were due to unpecedented increase in defence spending from Eastern neighbour and growth in their offensive capabilities.
The PAF chief informed reporters that other then some very advanced US fighters, the Rafale was umatched by any other plane in the world at the current time
When asked on funding for the new planes, PAF chief said current government had vowed to provide PAF with all available funding.
Noting that PAF would be first export customer for such a plane, ACM Rao said "This will give us a capability any adversery knows very little about and would be very difficult to counter by any power"
He said the PAF had already been using Unarmed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology for reconnaissance purposes while it hardly needs to go for armed aerial vehicle.
He said the coalition forces hardly commit any violations of Pakistans airspace while Islamabad had always strongly protested in case of any airspace violation by coalition forces in Afghanistan. app
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...8-3-2010_pg7_4
* PAF chief says contract should be signed within 12 months
* PAF team evaluated fighter for past 2 years
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will start getting 36 Rafale fighters from 2015 onwards, Chief of Air Staff Rao Qamar Suleman said on Thursday.
Briefing reporters on the on-going High Mark-2010 Exercise by PAF in collusion with the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy, the air chief said the delivery of the aircrafts to Pakistan would complete by the end of 2016.
He said, in addition to 36 Rafales , Pakistan had also been negotiating to get French MICA missile and Radar for JF-17, besides getting other modern gadgets and weapons.
He said the new inductions were due to unpecedented increase in defence spending from Eastern neighbour and growth in their offensive capabilities.
The PAF chief informed reporters that other then some very advanced US fighters, the Rafale was umatched by any other plane in the world at the current time
When asked on funding for the new planes, PAF chief said current government had vowed to provide PAF with all available funding.
Noting that PAF would be first export customer for such a plane, ACM Rao said "This will give us a capability any adversery knows very little about and would be very difficult to counter by any power"
He said the PAF had already been using Unarmed Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology for reconnaissance purposes while it hardly needs to go for armed aerial vehicle.
He said the coalition forces hardly commit any violations of Pakistans airspace while Islamabad had always strongly protested in case of any airspace violation by coalition forces in Afghanistan. app
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...8-3-2010_pg7_4
