U.S. Agrees to Sell F-16s to Pakistan

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by falcon-watcher » 25 Mar 2005, 22:07

Bush Agrees to Sell F-16s to Pakistan

President Bush has agreed to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in a major policy shift rewarding a key ally in the war on terrorism, administration officials said on Friday.

A senior Bush administration official said the sale, which was blocked for 15 years, "will not change the overall balance of power" between Pakistan and India, and the jets "are vital to Pakistan's security as President (Pervez) Musharraf takes numerous risks prosecuting the war on terror."

One Bush administration official said the sale involved 24 planes but another said the numbers could change.

India's prime minister expressed "great disappointment," a spokesman in New Delhi said.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called Bush's decision "a good gesture... This shows that our relations are growing stronger."

Washington blocked the sale of the F-16s to Pakistan in 1990 as a sanction against its nuclear weapons program.

Though no final decision has been made "at this point" on similar F-16 sales to India, the senior Bush administration official said: "We will respond positively to the Indian tender for bids to sell multi-role combat aircraft."

The F-16 is made by Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest U.S. defense contractor.

Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, opened new political possibilities for advancing Pakistan's stalled 15-year quest for the F-16 fighters when he said last month that Islamabad would not object to India also buying the American-made jets.

Nuclear Neighbours

The decision follows Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to India and Pakistan earlier this month. The State Department informed key congressional leaders on Friday.

In New Delhi, a spokesman for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Bush called him on Friday about the planned sale.

"The prime minister expressed India's great disappointment at the decision which could have negative consequences for India's security environment," Sanjaya Baru, spokesman for the prime minister's office, told Reuters.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought three wars and were on the brink of another in 2002, have eased since they began talks last year aimed at ending half a century of enmity.

India has strongly opposed the sale of F-16s to Pakistan after the Pentagon cleared arms sales worth $1.2 billion to Pakistan last year. New Delhi says the planes could only be used against it in a conflict.

Islamabad in turn has said that any move by the United States to sell Patriot anti-missile systems to India would trigger a new arms race in the region, after a U.S. defense team made a presentation last month in New Delhi.

The F-16 sale represents a major policy shift for the United States and a final step toward tacit acceptance of Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons.

"President Musharraf made a commitment to stand with the United States," the senior administration official said. "This is a long-standing request."

Source: Reuters


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by Stefaan » 25 Mar 2005, 22:07

See also the news article "<a href="f-16_news_article1335.html">U.S. agrees to sell new F-16s to Pakistan</a>"

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by nzenthusiast » 26 Mar 2005, 00:50

No..., now New Zealand can't get them.


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by agilefalcon16 » 26 Mar 2005, 04:15

So is the U.S. going to sell new or used F-16s to Pakistan?


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by F-16overDPRK » 26 Mar 2005, 05:12

Great news! They have to get the MLU upgrade for these!
I can't wait until the day when the F-16s fly over P'yongyang!


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by Sniper69 » 26 Mar 2005, 07:14

No nzentusiast, those F-16's were already slpit between USAF and USN for use as agressor aircraft. I imagine they will be new planes unless old ADF models are sold.


100 Posts! 8)
Last edited by Sniper69 on 26 Mar 2005, 07:18, edited 1 time in total.


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by PAF-Viper » 26 Mar 2005, 08:04

agilefalcon16 wrote:So is the U.S. going to sell new or used F-16s to Pakistan?


Pakistan will get at least 24 new Block 52s (with option for additional numbers later). It is currently operating 32 Block 15s. PAF desires 71 new F-16s.
Last edited by PAF-Viper on 26 Mar 2005, 11:47, edited 2 times in total.


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by adnanpaf_825 » 26 Mar 2005, 08:56

first of all its a good news that pakistan is getting new f-16s secondly the think i want to discuss is that have anyone of u read the news parallel to (sale of f-16 to pakistan) that pakistan is going to provide IAEA with N-parts of sample....its kind of strange....

Coz a month before i read an article that U.S goverment can provide pakistan with latest f-16s if they giv permission to tlk with A.Qadeer kahn and provide with sample of N-parts....thnks

waiting for comments... :roll:


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by SABRE » 26 Mar 2005, 10:58

PAF-Viper wrote:
agilefalcon16 wrote:So is the U.S. going to sell new or used F-16s to Pakistan?


Pakistan will get at least 18 new Block 52s (with option for additional numbers later). It is currently operating 32 Block 15s. PAF desires 71 new F-16s.


The first batch to arrive includes 24 F-16s of Block 52+ C/D with advance weapon system. Pakistan has to sign an other contract of 80 new F-16s of Block 60E/F.
Block 52+ C/D are already in loclheed-martins inventory & will just go into a short over hauling & avionics integration. While block 60 will have to go into production.

Pakistan plans to aquire atleast 200 F-16s by 2010-2015.


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by PAF-Viper » 26 Mar 2005, 11:45

SABRE wrote:The first batch to arrive includes 24 F-16s of Block 52+ C/D with advance weapon system. Pakistan has to sign an other contract of 80 new F-16s of Block 60E/F.
Block 52+ C/D are already in loclheed-martins inventory & will just go into a short over hauling & avionics integration. While block 60 will have to go into production.

Pakistan plans to aquire atleast 200 F-16s by 2010-2015.


I think the 200 figure is not correct. Pakistan had planned 111 F-16s before the Pressler Amendment and it will stick to this figure.

Secondly, it is too early to say that Pakistan will get Block 60 or even Block 52+. Currently, it is signing up for 24 Block 52s.


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by F-16overDPRK » 26 Mar 2005, 16:02

PAF-Viper wrote:
SABRE wrote:The first batch to arrive includes 24 F-16s of Block 52+ C/D with advance weapon system. Pakistan has to sign an other contract of 80 new F-16s of Block 60E/F.
Block 52+ C/D are already in loclheed-martins inventory & will just go into a short over hauling & avionics integration. While block 60 will have to go into production.

Pakistan plans to aquire atleast 200 F-16s by 2010-2015.


I think the 200 figure is not correct. Pakistan had planned 111 F-16s before the Pressler Amendment and it will stick to this figure.

Secondly, it is too early to say that Pakistan will get Block 60 or even Block 52+. Currently, it is signing up for 24 Block 52s.


I agree, they will have about 111, and try to make room for the J-10!


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by arthurgray » 26 Mar 2005, 17:48

Frist of all its about time that pakistan finally some more F-16s, but there are a lot of other issues that i don,t like about the sales to pakistan (1st)what ever happened to the arms imbargo to pakistan hell thats one of the reasons why they didn,t get the F-16s due in part because of the nuclear test ban treaty which prohibits them from purchasing american weapons, now if they had signed it years ago the would,ve had those F-16s back then,and then theres india i haven,t seen or read anything about there cooperation with the war on terror plus i think this is some type of stratagie to make tension between both countries on a higher level.(2nd) think aboutthe kasmir region, will both coutries ever resolve this issue dout it.


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by LinkF16SimDude » 26 Mar 2005, 22:57

OK....so all I've been hearing is that we're only selling Vipers to Pakistan. But what are we to make of this story that says we also offered them to India? And this story says India has been offered "a similar or more advanced plane" (the Hornet was mentioned) along with a bunch of other non-aviation stuff to offset the perceived threat of the Pakistani deal. I've only seen sparse mention of the offer to India in the US press.

I've also read online sources that said India was shopping around for a new advanced fighter, I guess to replace some of their older Soviet stuff. So if India was also offered Vipers or even Hornets, but isn't gonna take GWB up on his offer, they've got nothing to complain about.

:offtopic: Despite their declarations of "neutrality", the US press doesn't exactly care much for GWB. Our vaunted media isn't beneath using the omission of the Indian offer as a tactic to paint the president as favoring one country over the other.


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by ghostrider883 » 27 Mar 2005, 03:59

LinkF-16SimDude wrote:I've also read online sources that said India was shopping around for a new advanced fighter, I guess to replace some of their older Soviet stuff. So if India was also offered Vipers or even Hornets, but isn't gonna take GWB up on his offer, they've got nothing to complain about.


India needs 126 multi-role fighters to replace the old MiG-21s(FL,M,MF), around 125 MiG-21bis have been or are in the process of being upgraded to Bison standards.
what's the point in replacing the MiG-21s with the F-18E/F? it just does not fit into the IAF's requirements. As for the F-16s, no point in getting an a/c which the US has stopped inducting into its own fleet.
So i bet it will either be the Mirage 2000-V or the MiG-29M2 that will eventually replace the MiG-21s.


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by Diving_Falcon » 27 Mar 2005, 21:59

Good stuff for Pakistan, hope this time it all goes 100% according to plan for the PAF. I was wondering though, is Lockheed Martin still producing the Block-50/52, now that the USAF has stopped recieving them, I thought they would cut off the line. Well we'll find out as soon as the numbers and types the PAF is trying to acquire are confirmed to the public.

As for the InAF, well this may be the spark they were waiting for to finally finalize that Mirage 2000-5 or MiG-29SMT.


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