Posted on 04/29/2016 8:19:02 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The US will no longer subsidise the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, a senior state department official has told the BBC.
The decision means that Pakistan will have to pay more than $700m (£480m) - two-and-a-half times the original cost - if it wishes to buy the aircraft.
It comes after Congress refused to approve funding for the deal.
Some US lawmakers had accused Pakistan of not doing enough to fight militants. India also objected to the sale.
However, Pakistan has argued that the jets are needed for anti-terror operations, and so the US should help with funding the purchase.
People close to the deal say it is highly unlikely that Pakistan will be willing to pay the full cost of the fighter jets, so it seems to be off for all practical purposes.
A spokesman for the Pakistan embassy in Washington, Nadeem Hotiana, told the BBC that arms sales were a long process and that he would not comment on the deal's current status.
"F-16s provide precision strike capability to Pakistan's ongoing campaign against militancy," he said.
"Pakistan believes that the threat from terrorist networks requires continued capacity building and both governments continue to work together towards this objective through a range of measures including the sale of these aircraft."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
As with so many media graphics, that’s got a bunch of incorrect specs. The top speeds, for one. The F-16 Block 50/52 as used by the USAF (and the version potentially being sold to Pakistan) can only achieve Mach 2 at altitude with no missiles except wingtip Sidewinders, AKA ‘clean’ or ‘airshow’ configuration. Even then, it tops out at 2120kph, not the 2414 listed. At sea level it tops out at Mach 1.2, 915 mph or 1470 kph. Add things to the airframe like missiles, sensor pods, etc., and it slows down considerably.
The SU-30MKI’s speed at altitude is in the same Mach 2 class albeit a bit slower: 2100 kph or 1300 mph. Sea level performance is 1350 kph or 839mph.
What little the SU gives up to the F-16 is more than made up for in range, ability to carry munition, and agility. The SU has canards and thrust vectoring nozzles and is ridiculously agile for such a large fighter. It’s able to achieve ridiculously high angles of attack and hold them. It can also do the equivalents of somersaults and cartwheels all while continuing forward flight. It’s that agile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujenrmoeALE
It also has a look-down-shoot-down IRST system that allows it to attack without radar emissions and in conditions that deny visual acquisition of a target that the F-16 doesn’t begin to have.
It is a start.
But why the hell are we selling an enemy advanced weaponry in the first place, much less giving them money to help pay for it?
(Rhetorical question : Obama / Jarrett being the answer)
Eff “Pockisthan”...they sheltered Bin Laden...that’s all I need to know.
The Pakis are given money to pay for weaponry, so that they can use their own money to buy Chinese weaponry. America makes China rich in more ways than one!
Military aid to the Pakistanis started long before Obama.
The F-16 should more properly be compared to the MiG-29.
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