Hi
Money is there, but also the choice.
Pakistan want to raise 4 Squadrons of Sharp edge aircrafts. 2 of XYZ, 2 of Blk52.
One Blk52 squadron is already here, so it was logical to go for one more. USA is old friend after all. But PAF didn't want to spend huge money on F16 as it might compromise Jf17 & XYZ deal. Americans knew it, so made the offer to split order of Blk52 into two portion. First portion of 8 aircraft was supposed to be funded by Military funds (60%) while rest (40%) was supposed to be provided by PAF. Rest 10 aircrafts was entirely a PAF money thing.
But Congress butt in, they blocked the funding of F16. Now it was PAF to decide either buy entire 18 Blk52 from its own money, or to look towards XYZ option.
If you are buying a squadron of 4+ Generation aircraft for 85 Million $ per piece, then isn't it better to add some more money and buy a squadron of 4++ Generation aircraft instead with 95 Million $ a piece?
PAF did the same. Money is there, but question of buying capability is more important. Blk 52 is awesome aircraft, but if you know that you will not be armed with AIM9X, Tiger Eye pod, anti radiation missiles, AESA and stand off weaponry, then will you buy it still when another better option is available with slightly more price???
An air force of 12 Squadrons of Jf17, 5 Squadrons of F16 and 3 Squadrons of 4++ Generation aircraft is indeed worth a shot......
And this is what PAF will be by end of 2019.
you wouldn't pay the full price for 8 F-16s for $700 million
but now you all think Pakistan is capable of buying 40 Eurofighter Typhoons that cost even more than the F-16 and then you would have to buy new missiles for it like Iris-T and Meteor, the $$$$ just keeps rising.
I had no idea Pakistan has gulf country money.
If mentioned "rumor" is correct then it's not a purchase of 2nd hand aircraft....... thus not upgraded M2K9.
Plus it was mentioned before that PAF is looking towards France and Russia for jets, then it's role out possibility of Eurofghter.
Moreover, since we are not buying French avionics and sub systems for Jf17 now, then I do believe that Rafale is already out of picture as number of jets are high. And Rafale is expensive aircraft.
This leave Mig35 & Su35 behind .........
Mig35 share similarities with Jf17 and also house RD33MK engine which we are looking to add in Jf17. A big plus point.
But Su35 too is in picture, as PAF discussed it with Russians from start and they were forcing us to buy two squadrons of Su24 as step gap before jumping to Su35 directly. This was rejected by Pakistan. Month later a news circulated in Vautnam defense sites that Pakistan is buying 6 Su35 for 500 Million$.
So many things are out there .......
8 F-16s for 700+ million $ that's 87.5 million for 1 X F-16...
There is no use of Gripen when we have an comparable homegrown fighter JF-17..Gripen would have been a choice had we not had the JF project...
It brings nothing new to the table.
Why should we ..
40 typhoons aren't a choice unless our oil rich buddies from the gulf are paying which is unlikely due to various factors including us not jumping in their useless war unlike Egypt and KSA funding her purchases...
But even than buying fighters typhoons or SUs in limited batches -- buying a squadron each year wouldn't be a big deal... From the over 5 billion acquisition budget .. 1 billion or more per year wouldn't be a big issue.
Considering PAFs love for F16s and their economics ( which cannot be said to be the best at present ) , its Gripen which suits the situation. Further guess how did the crashed SAAB AEW got repaired... not without SAAB you see.
No Gripen ........
