Posted on 06/01/2016 7:08:47 AM PDT by mac_truck
Pakistan failed to move forward with the purchase of eight U.S.-made F-16C/D Block-52 fighter aircraft following a dispute over financing, Dawn reported on May 28.
According to an unidentified source Pakistan failed to provide a so-called Letter of Acceptance for the procurement of the eight fighter jets by May 24 and the offer expired.
“Pakistan decided not to fully fund the case with national funds, so the terms of sale have now expired,” the source told Dawn.
U.S. lawmakers have been blocking financing for the eight F-16s under the so-called Foreign Military Financing (FMF), with the result that Pakistan would have needed to pay $700 million instead of the original $270 million for the aircraft–a price increase of two-and-a-half times the original cost.
U.S. lawmakers have repeated voiced their concerns that the fighter jets would not be used to fight insurgents within Pakistan but rather be deployed to deter India.
It remains highly unlikely that Islamabad will proceed given congressional opposition. However, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said last Saturday that “a dead-end has not been reached as yet.”
It was only in February that the U.S. State Department approved the possible sale of the F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan with the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notifying Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at thediplomat.com ...
Frankly, for a country that harbored Osama Bin Laden for years, on the front doorstep of its own “West Point,” we shouldn’t be selling them ANY weapons at all. We should instead be giving India advanced weapons to overtake them.
Why are we selling anything to Pakistan?! They, like Saudi Arabia and India, and others are not allies.
Pakistan is our enemy, not our friend.
We should goad them into war with Turkey somehow. that would be a win win.
It will be interesting to see where Pakistan turns next for military hardware, if this deal has actually fallen through.
Or Iran...
Good.
Pakistan is NOT our friend.
Regardless of how much money some corporations make.
U.S. lawmakers have been blocking financing for the eight F-16s under the so-called Foreign Military Financing (FMF), with the result that Pakistan would have needed to pay $700 million instead of the original $270 million for the aircraft–a price increase of two-and-a-half times the original cost. U.S. lawmakers have repeated voiced their concerns that the fighter jets would not be used to fight insurgents within Pakistan but rather be deployed to deter India.
China
You might be right, although it would be a step backwards in terms of quality of hardware imo.
I’m also not sure China would subsidize their military expenditures to the same degree the United States has.
Pakistan will continue to buy from their oldest ally: China. Nearly 70% of Pakistan’s military hardware and its nuclear and missile tech is of Chinese origin. Since the 1970s, the U.S. has been an add-on supplier from whom they would prefer to buy, not their main source.
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