Posted on 10/13/2009 9:02:20 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
PICTURES: Lockheed Martin unveils first F-16 Block 52 ordered by Pakistan
By Stephen Trimble
Lockheed Martin today unveiled the first of up to 36 F-16 Block 52 fighters that could be sold to the Pakistan Air Force in a ceremony attended by the chiefs of both Pakistani US air forces.
The so-called “Peace Drive I” programme brokered by the US government once called for Pakistan to buy up to 55 F-16s. That number has been reduced to firm orders for 12 single-seat F-16C and six F-16Ds.
Pakistan also has signed options to buy 18 more F-16 Block 52s, all powered by Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engines.
The F-16s currently on order represent the “latest configuration of the best 4th generation multirole fighter available in the world today,” John Larson, vice president of F-16 programmes for Lockheed Martin, said in a statement.
In June 2006, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency listed the systems that Pakistan had requested for its F-16s.
Requested sensors included Northrop Grumman mechanically-scanned APG-68(V)9 radars and ITT ALQ-211(V)9 advanced integrated defensive electronic warfare suites (AIDEWS) without digital radio frequency memory.
The proposed weapons package included an order for 500 Raytheon AIM-120C5 advanced medium range air to air missiles, 200 Raytheon AIM-9M-8/9 Sidewinders, 500 Boeing joint direct attack munitions, 1,600 enhanced GBU-12/24 laser-guided bombs and 700 BLU-109 penetrator bombs.
Lockheed is also under contract to upgrade 34 Pakistan F-16A/B Block 15 fighters with modern weapons and sensors.
First delivery for the newly-built F-16 Block 52 is scheduled in December. The event will mark the first F-16 order fulfilled to Pakistan since the US government suspended deliveries under the previous Peace Gate IV programme in the early 1990s.
And if they piss us off we just won’t sell them any spare parts.
That’s not going to be a big deal-these jets are being paid for with mil-aid and there are only going to be about 36 newly built ones. The real stuff will be the 150-250 JF-17 and 40 J-10 fighters they will be BUYING from China over the next decade.
F-16 ping.
I hope the Taliban enjoys their new aircraft.
/s
Do they screen the pilots for suicide belts?
I agree that selling this to a state that may very well be hostile to us in the near term is highly questionable. At least this is a "second hand" jet relative to the best we have available to us (although still superior to almost all non-US alternatives and extremely deadly) with a "second hand" mechanically scanned sensor that is also not the best available for that platform.
Overall, a decent president - but why Ike had to curse popular vocabulary with the term “military industrial complex” I’ll never understand.
It is the only branch of the Pakistani Military the Pentagon has great confidence in and has encouraged bringing as much of Pakistani military under airforce command as possible.
Another gut punch for the F-16IN offer to India.
How can I join this industrial military complex and get me a part of this gov'mint cheese?
The PAF officer corp undergoes the same basic training as the rest of the military and is no way distinct. The Pakistani military as a whole is westernised if that means using western equipment, training with NATO and drinking scotch.
Uhm, excuse me here, but this week weren’t we having war games with India? Now we are selling jets to Pakistan? I’ve learned the hard way that you cannot make everyone happy, if that lesson does not work with international relations then I’m fine with this.
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