Pakistan Chief of Air Staff Kalim Saadat has said that the amount for purchasing F-16 jets would be paid in the next ten years.
Talking to a private TV channel on Friday, he noted that F-16 price was 13 million dollars in 1983, and now it has reached to 45 million dollars, and added that the price would further increase if more delay was made in this regard. He said the rulers and nation can take decision about F-16.
He said that Indian Air Force is five times more as Pak Air Force and its annual budget is five billion dollars, while IAF is $8 billion, but clarified that despite this difference the PAF is ready to protect the country's frontier with its meagre resources.
The PAF Chief announced that President Pervez Musharraf has approved Armed Forces Modernisation Programme to update the three Armed Forces. In a question, Kalim Saadat said that there was no condition to pay immediately the price of F-16s but according to schedule the payment would be made within 10 to 15 years, and added that Pakistan would pay only of $500 million this year.
The Air Chief noted that defence sanctions were lifted against Pakistan after 911; so the purchase process of defence goods was launched. He announced that two F-16s, to be supplied to Pakistan on November 14, were delayed and now they would be provided to Pakistan by the end of this year.
Saadat said that he would be satisfied when PAF "is completely modernised". The Air Chief said that he wanted to get surveillance system to further strengthen the PAF to monitor enemy activities 150 km inside the border. He said that all three armed forces play important role in the war.