Posted on 03/11/2005 11:37:24 PM PST by Righty_McRight
I don't think "arms" were given though there was intelligence cooperation & also the US navy made matters far more easier for the Iraqis by thrashing Iran's navy.Besides,the US didn't raise a lot of noise when France & Germany shipped weaponry to Iraq or when the Iraqis were gassing Iranian soldiers.
Anyway coming to the point on this issue.Pakistan is unstable & a hotbed of Islamic terrorism & has been a close ally of China for over 40 years.Besides selling F-16s to them will mean American taxpayers having to empty a bit of their pockets for a military aid package.
The buzz is that Musharraf has agreed to give up Pakistani persons involved in the nuke trade with Iran, so that the US has first hand material evidence of Iranian perfidy. This would prevent the Euroweasels from expressing doubt on our intel sources tainted by the Iraq WMD fiasco. The F-16s are a reward for that. Musharraf will also be squeezed for Pakistani bases and airstrips near the Iranian border.
The offer to India is a smokescreen because India does not want the F-16s but rather the Patriot PAC-3s, P-3C and E-2C Hawkeye 2000s. But this way, the US can say - hey we offered it to India too and they chose not to take the F-16s.
I feel that this is yet another case of sacrificing the long-term interests with Pakistan in favor of expediency.
BTW, this Aboulafia character needs to enter the 21st century. The Indians right now have the airpower to decimate the Pakistani air force in a week. If anything, the F-16 sale might force them to up the ante and get more Su-30s and maybe Rafales!
Indeed. With all of India's tech savvy, I'm surprised they're not building bigger, better more sophisticated weapons than we could ever sell them.
Cheaper too.
LOL. That's just the Pakistanis trying to needle India in the latter's own backyard.
India will induct the LCA-the government has given an order for 40 & the number could rise to a 80 odd in the next decade or so.Before we compare the LCA with anything,one should remember that it was not designed to be equal to or better to the F-16/Mirage-2000 etc-it was designed with the sole purpose of REPLACING India's Mig-21/23 series.It's payload of 4 tonnes & range of under 1000kms is nowhere near an F/A-18 ,but is miles ahead of a Mig-21.By that logic,the LCA makes a lot of sense given that there are still thousands of Mig-21s flying around the world.Of all the current systems around,one can only take the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen for objective comparison & their specs more or less match.The LCA mind you is still in development & India is working with Israel on it's EW & threat management systems.It's air to air armament will probably be the Israeli Python-5/Derby combo or the Russian AA-11/AA-12.So all in all,if you are talking about a replacement for the Mig-21 or F-5 Tiger,the LCA seems a handy system to have.
PS-The Indian navy is working on a navalised variant of the LCA for it's homebuilt carrier to be ready by 2012.It will have a reinforced undercarriage & slight difference in avionics.
Nope by purely technical standards,the best F-16s in the world are the F-16 Block 60 variants which are currently being built for the airforce of the UAE.This version has an AESA radar,conformal fuel tanks,a new engine(greater payload capability) etc.Israel's variants are Block 52 ones.Anyway putting the pilot in there will probably make the Israeli variant more capable.
PS-Israeli F-16s have always been rated as better than their American counterparts.Better pilots,ECM & the capability to operate the Python-4 AAM are the reasons being given.
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