Pakistan has received the last batch of three sophisticated F-16 Block 52 fighter jets from the U.S.
The three Lockheed Martin fighters delivered Feb. 6 at the Shahbaz Air Base in Jacobabad were the last of the 18 jets Pakistan had ordered. The deal’s cost is $1.4 billion for the aircraft and $1.3 billion for technical costs, including upgrades and maintenance.
“The arrival of the last F-16D Block 52 aircraft marked the completion of delivery of 18 aircraft of this category. The other two F-16 Block 15 aircraft ... were earlier sent to the U.S. for a midlife upgrade,” a Pakistan air force (PAF) spokesman said.
The F-16 program included the purchase of 18 new jets, an upgrade of 35 older aircraft and those purchased from the U.S. under the Excess Defense Articles program, and the purchase of munitions.
The F-16 sale to Pakistan was announced in 2005 and the details were finalized in late 2009. The first delivery of three F-16s took place in June 2010.
The aircraft are much superior to the F-16A/Bs already in the PAF’s inventory.
Though the fighter sale was noted as a sign of deepening strategic ties between Islamabad and the George W. Bush administration in Washington in 2005, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables in early 2011 suggested that the sale was used only to expand the U.S.’s strategic interests, with Pakistan standing to gain little from the deal.
WikiLeaks exposed the dispatches from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, which indicated that the deal was, among other things, meant to assuage Pakistan’s fears of an “existential threat it perceived from India.”
However, the U.S. acknowledged the F-16s would not change India’s overwhelming air superiority over Pakistan. The cables bluntly asserted that the F-16s would be “no match for India’s proposed purchase of F-18 or equivalent aircraft.”
Meanwhile, Turkish Aerospace Industries has kicked off deliveries of F-16s it is upgrading for the PAF under a program that is to run until September 2014. The project, called Peace Drive II, involves the upgrade of 41 older F-16s under a contract signed in 2009. The first handover took place Feb. 8, TAI says.
The program is largely an avionics and structural update of older F-16s to bring them near the capability of the F-16 Block 52s. TAI says it is also providing training for 72 Pakistani maintenance personnel.
Finally, in January the U.S. Air Force awarded a contract to Link Simulation and Training to modernize two F-16C Block 52 aircrew training devices for the PAF. L-3 Link will install the company’s SimuSphere HD-9 visual system display, which marks the first use of SimuSphere HD-9 on training devices delivered to a foreign nation’s air force, according to a L-3 Link statement.
The F-16C Block 52 simulator units, scheduled for delivery in 2013, will be installed and networked at Shahbaz Air Base, in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
The simulators will have a helmet-mounted cuing system enabling pilots to practice control of aircraft-targeting systems and sensors, as well as night-vision goggles to conduct simulated night missions. Each simulator will have a dedicated instructor and operator station.
Gilani Files Appeal In Contempt Case
Supreme Court will begin hearing intra-court appeal filed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani through his lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan against apex court verdict of indicting him in contempt of court case. Earlier today, the appeal was filed by Ahsan. It requested the court to postpone the prime minister’s indictment.
Earlier, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday filed an appeal against a Supreme Court summon demanding that he appear on February 13 to face indictment for contempt. The 200-page appeal pointed out 53 legal and constitutional points which emphasise that the prime minister did not go against the Constitution by not writing a letter.
The appeal further stated that the ruling was issued without the premier being given an opportunity to defend himself directly. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry while deciding another plea forwarded by Aitzaz Ahsan, requesting court to hear the appeal as earlier as Feb 10, suggested the counsel that the court was ready to hear the appeal on Thursday.
A nine-member larger bench of the apex court would hear the appeal. Barrister Aitzaz filed the appeal against the apex court’s order summoning the Prime Minister Gilani on February 13 to charge-sheet him in the contempt of court case. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan said that more than 50 case references have been cited in the 200-page appeal submitted to the Supreme Court.
He said that he based the appeal on precedents set by top courts in Australia, Britain, France, India and the United States. Ahsan said he based the appeal on precedents set by top courts in Australia, Britain, France, India and the United States.
The legal tussle stems from thousands of old corruption cases thrown out in 2007 by a controversial amnesty law. Aitzaz further said that there was no need for the premier to appear before the court as, according to the contempt of court law, a new bench needs to be formed after an appeal is filed.
Business News
Thu, 9 Feb 2012
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