Islamabad : Pakistan is considering an offer to buy sixteen used F-16 jets from Jordan after it was unable to buy eight advanced fighters from the United States because of a financial row.
The officials said getting Washington’s approval on the deal may not be easy.
“The case for the purchase of F-16s from the US is closed, we are now going for a third party transfer of F-16s and have an offer from Jordan”, the Dawn quoted Defence Secretary retired Lt Gen Alam Khattak as saying during told a joint sitting of the Senate committees on defence and foreign affairs.
Pakistan was unable to buy F-16 jets earlier as the U.S. refused to subsidise its purchase.
Pakistan’s inability to procure F-16s, from the U.S. is attributed to strained Washington-Islamabad ties because of Pakistan’s alleged insufficient action against the Taliban, Haqqani network and Lashkar-i-Taiba and concerns over the pace of its nuclear programme.
Defece Secretary Khattak , however, admitted that the used Block-30 F-16s being offered by Jordan were not of the same quality and standard as the U.S. counterparts. But Pakistan may immediately need them to replace the Block-15 F-16s currently in PAF’s inventory, which are due to be retired in the next couple of years.
Pakistan had earlier bought around a dozen F-16s from Jordan in 2014, to modernize its fleet. (ANI)