US Air Force to supply F-16 aircraft to Pak

Islamabad, Dec 7: The US Air Force has decided to give a 144.1 million dollar contract to the Lockheed Martin Corporation for the material to be used in advanced F-16 fighter aircraft it intends to sell to Pakistan.

As part of a potential 5.1 billion dollars package, the US has agreed to sell Pakistan up to 18 new F-16 C/D Bock 52 aircraft along with 26 refurbished F-16s.

''An arms package is also on offer as part of the deal,'' Pakistan Press International (PPI) reported today.

The purchase of 18 C/D versions of the F-16s will cost two billion dollars, while the remaining amount of three billion dollars is to be spent on buying 26 used jets and upgrade of the existing fleet of the PAF's F-16s.

In July, the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress that the F-16s would come with 200 Sidewinder and 500 AIM-120C5 air-to-air missiles plus 800 general purpose 2,000 and 500-pound bombs.

On September 30, Pakistan and the United States signed the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) that set into motion the process involving supply of 44 F-16 aircraft to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

Work under the contract was to be completed by November 2010, the agency quoted the Pentagon's daily contract summary as saying.

UNI