ISLAMABAD (April 13 2006): Pakistan will purchase 98 hi-tech aircraft from the United States and China besides missiles and other equipment to improve the capabilities of Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

According to an official document, exclusively obtained by Business Recorder, mixed package of hi-tech aircraft and equipment is being purchased from USA and China are as under:

FC-20 aircraft (36), SD-10 BVR missiles (300), F-16 A/B, ex-Pakistan (26), F-16 C/D (18 with an option for 18 more), BVR, 500(American), targeting pods 18 and joint direct attack munitions (500).

The expenditure on the entire package would be met from PAF share in Armed Forces Development Programme (AFFDP-2019), the document says. The Cabinet, according to the document, has allowed PAF to set up Joint Working Group (JWG) with CATIC for procurement of 36 FC-20 aircraft.

The government would also help PAF in securing long-term credit financing for the FC-20 aircraft from Chinese government, besides allowing PAF to initiate a Letter of Request (LoR) for the F-16 package and equipment through the Defence Ministry.

While elaborating the background, Defence Ministry said that PAF gave a presentation to the President and Prime Minister on the state of present fighter fleet and its various hi-tech aircraft options on March 31, 2006.

At present, PAF's combat fleet consists of around 350 aircraft. The bulk of its inventory comprises old Mirages and Chinese-origin A-5, FT-6 and F-7 aircraft. With the exception of F-7 PGs, most of these aircraft are more than 20 years old and are scheduled to retire between 2008 and 2015.

Foreseeing this retirement schedule and the known difficulties associated with replacing all old aircraft with western equipment, PAF embarked upon the co-development of JF-17 aircraft. The induction of JF-17 has been planned so as to have a systematic replacement of the retired fleet.

Regarding hi-tech capability, PAF has seriously lagged over the years, mainly due to various geo-political and economic constraints. In order to redress this capability deficit, PAF has very carefully evaluated the hi-tech options against well-defined air staff requirements.

The requirement of multi-role aircraft with effective and modern operational capabilities, supportability, maintainability and other factors were thoroughly evaluated during the trials of available hi-tech options. In this regard, three aircraft namely, Chinese FC-20, USF-16 C/D and Swedish Grippen were evaluated.

While the US F-16 C/D and Swedish Grippen qualified against the PAF requirements, the Chinese FC-20, in its present state, lagged behind due to the lack of advanced avionics systems and weapons. For the future, however, PAF termed it as a good option with very promising growth potential to become one of the leading frontline fighters to face the challenges of the 21st century.

Further, due to the high cost of Grippen, the F-16 weapon system, along with air-to-air BVR missiles was considered to be the most suitable option to immediately address the critical capability deficit that PAF has accumulated vis-à-vis IAF.

The document suggests that the President had directed the Defence Ministry to move a summary for the Cabinet directing the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs to adopt proactive approach to influence the United States and Chinese Governments for the release of the requisite package.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2006