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Four more F-16s to join PAF soon
Thursday, July 17, 2008
By Hanif Khalid
ISLAMABAD: Four more F-16 fighter aircraft will join the Pakistan Air Force on July 28, 2008. For this purpose, a ceremony for handing over of the planes to the Pakistan Air Force will be held at the PAF Base Mushaf on Saturday.
The four F-16 planes, which are going to be handed over to Pakistan in the last week of the current month, have been upgraded and modified to the extent that they will perform just like new F-16s.
Last month, the Deputy Chief of Air Staff (Operations), Air Marshal Rao Qamar Suleiman, had received four Fighting Falcons from Lt Gen Gary L North, Commander 9th Air Force, and the USAF Central Command while four were received last year. These refurbished F-16s have the same operational capability as of those already possessed by the PAF and will significantly augment its combat capability.
Meanwhile, state-of-the-art JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft will be inducted as regular squadron of the Pakistan Air Force by the end of the current year. The small batch production of the JF-17 Thunder multi-role aircraft is in progress both in China and the Kamra Aeronautical Complex. Pakistan Air Force is in the process of completing the testing and evaluation of aircraft jointly produced by Pakistan and China. After completion of the evaluation, the new aircraft will be certified by international monitors to become operational in the air forces of the world.
Serial production of the JF-17 Thunder will also start in Pakistan soon. In the first phase 40%, in the second 60%, in the third phase 80% and in the last phase 100% JF-17 Thunder warplanes will be built at the Kamra Aeronautical Complex. Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mehmood, is personally supervising the task of inducting new platforms in the PAF.
Four more F-16s to join PAF soon
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php...01&c=EUR&s=TOP
Lockheed Welcomes Retrofit Radars for F-16s
by tom kington
Published: 15 Jul 13:21 EDT (17:21 GMT)FARNBOROUGH, England - As the world's air forces continue to fly thousands of F-16s 30 years after the launch of the aircraft, an official at manufacturer Lockheed Martin has welcomed the unveiling this year of two active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars for retrofitting in the fighter.
"Anything that adds value is a great thing," said John Larson, F-16 vice president at Lockheed. "We would love to see both of them become options," he added.
Larson said that F-16s as old as Block 25 aircraft, albeit after a midlife upgrade, would likely be able to be retrofitted with AESA radar.
Larson was speaking at the Farnborough Airshow a day after Raytheon launched its Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR). In February, Northrop Grumman showed its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR). Both are designed to be fitted into F-16s by air forces that might have sought to buy new fighters in order to obtain AESA radar, which is faster and more capable than mechanically scanned radar.
Apart from retrofitting F-16s, Larson did not rule out the possibility of customers buying new F-16s being able to choose one of the two radars, "although we need to see where future developments end up," he added.
Currently, only the United Arab Emirates has purchased F-16s with AESA radar onboard, the APG-80. Larson said that the APG-80 had also been proposed for India, should it buy the aircraft.
Otherwise, customers who have recently ordered the aircraft, or are now taking delivery, have all ordered the mechanically scanned APG-68(V)9. They include Greece, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland and Turkey.
Northrop Grumman has said that its new AESA retrofit radar will be cheaper and less capable than the APG-80, but the same price as the APG-68(v)9.
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Hmmm the radar is less capable then the APG-80, but certainly an AESA radar. It would be an interesting development If we go for this radar instead of APG-68 v9. I am amazed why hasn't Israel and Turkey opted for the APG-80 since they would no problem in acquiring them unlike us.
Current Lockheed Martin F-16 Versions Are Most Advanced Multi-RoleOn record Pakistan AF decision was not to incorporate APG80 into block 52s because it would have required more research and money which PAF would have had to pay. PAF has(as per Pshamim of Pakdef.info fame) asked LM to consider incorporating AESA into the next batch which we may buy from them. I dont have any news of what has come out of it since then.
Araz
Hmmm the radar is less capable then the APG-80, but certainly an AESA radar. It would be an interesting development If we go for this radar instead of APG-68 v9. I am amazed why hasn't Israel and Turkey opted for the APG-80 since they would no problem in acquiring them unlike us.
can we get this Radar in our new Block 52+ instead of APG 68V(9)??
Ice cold.
As far as I remember, Israel wanted to install its own radar and avionics on their Soufas. they were not allowed to by the Americans. The other thing to note is that UAE has intelectual rights to APG 80 as they paid for the research that went into it. They would therefore have a say in who gets it and who does not. On record Pakistan AF decision was not to incorporate APG80 into block 52s because it would have required more research and money which PAF would have had to pay. PAF has(as per Pshamim of Pakdef.info fame) asked LM to consider incorporating AESA into the next batch which we may buy from them. I dont have any news of what has come out of it since then.
Araz