The United States has indicated that it
may sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, but Islamabad
is also considering other options to purchase high technology
aircraft, Pakistan Chief of Air Force Kaleem Saadat said
on Tuesday.
Pakistan was unable to buy high technology
aircrafts for the last two decades because of sanctions,
the air force chief told reporters at the first day of
the Third International Defence Exhibition IDEAS 2004
that formally opened in Karachi under tight security.
“The Western countries denied us access to their
markets and their products,” Saadat said, “but
the attitude has changed after Pakistan joined the US-led
war on terror.”
“There is a possibility that we
will get more F-16s,” he said. “This is not
a rumour, it is a statement by the American government.
The work (on such a sale) has stopped because of the (US)
elections.”
Saadat said the US was giving billions
of dollars in economic aid and writing off debts, “but
Pakistani public opinion is still against Americans because
... they think the Americans want to keep them weak”.
Pakistan bought 40 F-16s in the early 1980s when the country
was serving as a base for the US-backed resistance against
the former Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan.
But another order for the purchase of 70 F-16s in the
late 1980s failed to materialise when the United States
imposed sanctions on the country for its clandestine nuclear
programme.
Pakistan paid for the planes in advance
and was only been able to get its money back after a decade.
Saadat said the Pakistan Air Force (PAF)
had suffered because of the sanctions. The disparity between
Pakistani and Indian air forces had widened as a result
of Pakistan’s inability to buy frontline fighter
aircrafts, he said adding, “You do not need mathematics
to realise this”. Saadat said Pakistan was concerned
by the bilateral defence cooperation between Israel and
India. Besides F-16s, Pakistan is looking to equip its
air force with Swedish Grippen and Chinese F-10s, Saadat
said.
Saadat explained that the JF-17 Thunder
fighter aircrafts, co-produced by Pakistan and China,
were going to be inducted into the air force in 2006.
“The JF-17 Thunder will replace Mirage 3 and 5,
A-5 and F-7 aircrafts,” he said. He said the medium-technology
aircraft matched the Mirage in performance, but its avionics
and weapons were superior.
Saadat said the Super Mashak plane made
by the PAF had proved itself internationally and Pakistan
was receiving large orders for the plane. He said that
one super Mashak plane would be exported to Malaysia this
year and Saudi Arabia had signed an agreement to buy 20
Super Mushak planes. Talks were underway to sell the planes
to Sri Lanka, South Africa and Oman, said Saadat.
