Abou Lafia is parroting the same old lines you hear from out of work ossified coldwar "analysts".Just because Pakistan get's the F-16, it won't make a big difference.For one,they needn't get the AMRAAM,PGMs,the new AESA radars or AEW aircraft.That will put their fleet of F-16s pretty much in the same league as their existing fleet of 30 odd F-16 Blk 20s.Just because a nation buys American stuff doesn't make the whole range of subsystems available for it.Especially if you are Pakistan,where the number sought will be low,who will also need assistance from American military aid & which is politically unstable.The number mentioned here is only 18-what does LM stand to gain from it???
Poor Abou Lafia seems to forget that as of now India's Su-30s,Mirage-2000s & Mig-29s are all far better than Pakistan's current fleet of F-16s.If India's Mig-29s were so inferior,why did Pakistani F-16s run away at the first squeak of the plane arming it's AA-10 missiles??Heck,even India's upgraded Mig-21s carry the AA-11 & AA-12 missiles,far better than the old Aim-9s & Aim-7 Sparrows of the PAF.
Coming to the IAF itself,if India does buy the F-16,it will probably be the biggest single largest deal ever(after Iran's aborted deal of the late 70s).& Given the fact that the number is huge,India will probably have greater flexibility on choosing or getting subsystems from Uncle Sam,including possible subcontracts to Israeli or British firms.Besides buying the Mig-29M2,equipped with Israeli or European avionics wouldn't be such a bad idea.The French Mirage-2005 is still the frontrunner, with French companies showing lots of flexibility on transfer of technology & license manufacturing,along with work on other army & navy projects.
PS-Abou Lafia's nationality is either Pakistani or Arab-ENUF SAID!!!
Actually India wont mind Pakistan getting the F-16s if the US is ready to sell India JSF F-35 (along with PACS-3 and ARROW ). That way the US can sell to both India and Pakistan and so the American companies are happy. Pakistan get the F-16s so Pakistan is happy. And India will dominated the air-warfare against Pakistan and China with the F-35s and so India will be happy. In any case if Pakistan gets the F-16s then the F-16 are out of the race as far as India is concerned considering the fact that the other compititors are the Typhoon Eurofighter 2000 and the French Rafale.