Lockheed Receives Mission Planning Contract for Potential F-16 Sales to India, Pakistan, 21 Other Nations

[Kingslayerr]

We don't know if PAF is in fact going for a new platform or not. Even the J10Cs are just rumors. Mirages are dedicated strike aircrafts, sort of like our mini F111s.

The interview confirms that their indeed is a new platform on the way.
Yes thats exactly what I'm saying Jeff is a really good aircraft but in its own league that is lightweight. It will provide cover to the bombing package while the F-16s will be busy hunting down some jets.

 

[Nasr]

India will go for F15EX. In comparison to LM they got better relationship with Boeing with Chinook, C-130, Apache,C17 etc.

C-130s are Lockheed Martin, not Boeing.

 

[cloud4000]

Because there is no shame in accepting that F-16 block 70/V is way ahead of JF-17 Block 3 or even 4. F-16 is a proven platform and it's the top reason why IAF was kept on the bay for all these years, and even in swift Retort, it was F-16's that scores the kill. JF's are good for Quantity which comes with decent Quality as well but when it comes to F-16's V or BLK 70's they are no match, and if PAF can get 18-36 of F-16V to create a balance in the region with upcoming Rafale, IAF will think 10 times before using their new French toys against Pakistan.

This outdated thinking, in my opinion. With China now in the mix, US is no longer interested in creating a “balance in the teguon.” US has targeted India has a strategic partner, tasked to be a bulwar against China.

If US was actually serious about creating a balance in South Asia, Pakistan would have received the F-16s long ago.

 

[Turingsage]

Because there is no shame in accepting that F-16 block 70/V is way ahead of JF-17 Block 3 or even 4. F-16 is a proven platform and it's the top reason why IAF was kept on the bay for all these years, and even in swift Retort, it was F-16's that scores the kill. JF's are good for Quantity which comes with decent Quality as well but when it comes to F-16's V or BLK 70's they are no match, and if PAF can get 18-36 of F-16V to create a balance in the region with upcoming Rafale, IAF will think 10 times before using their new French toys against Pakistan.

Heresy, Heresy. This is blasphemy that can only have one result on PDF.

 

[Bilal9]

This is what is being offered to India - F21 urf F16 Block (latest). Old wine in new bottle (w/conformal tanks and electronics spine). Loadout looks (what shall we say...) ambitious??

This is probably (for the money) better than any small scale interceptors the subcontinent has right now (Su-30MKI's excluded of course). I can't tell if the wing area increased compared to the older F-16 versions.

 

[SQ8]

This outdated thinking, in my opinion. With China now in the mix, US is no longer interested in creating a “balance in the teguon.” US has targeted India has a strategic partner, tasked to be a bulwar against China.

If US was actually serious about creating a balance in South Asia, Pakistan would have received the F-16s long ago.

That being said, the US has no interest in a Nuclear armed Indian-Pakistani conflict and will put unbiased conflict deescalation on its top priority against taking any sides. So at the end, all Pakistan has to do is hold India off for less than a week.
Essentially, leaving the Indians with zero military options to extract any victories.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Lockheed Martin received a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contract worth $64.3 million for F-16 Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mission planning.

It involves FMS to Slovakia, Bulgaria, Taiwan, Morocco, Greece, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia and Thailand, a U.S. DoD release today said.

This contract provides for the development, integration, test and delivery of the Joint Mission Planning System Unique Planning Component/Mission Planning Environment software updates.

Of the countries mentioned, India, the Philippines and Croatia do not possess F-16 jets.

Work is expected to be completed by January 2029.

In October, L3Harris Technologies won $93 million F-16 self protection systems. Even this deal involved FMS to support Air Forces of Chile, India, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Turkey, Iraq and Morocco.

F-16 for India

Lockheed Martin offered India its newly configured F-21 jet to be manufactured indigenously in India in a bid to compete for $ 15 billion aircraft competition. The company had earlier pitched their F-16V5 Block 70 aircraft.

The F-21 is rumoured to a rebranded version of the F-16V, the most advanced variant of the American jet. As per Indian media, the F-21 has 12,000 hours of service life airframe as against F-16’s 8,000 hours. It reportedly has completely different airframe, weapons capability, engine matrix and availability of engine options.

Vivek Lall, former Vice-President of Strategy and Business Development of Lockheed Martin had earlier said that if India decides to buy the F-21 jets then the company will not sell them to anyone else and will set up an F-21 manufacturing facility with Tata Group and create an ecosystem for the overall growth of India’s defence manufacturing.

Defense World

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India has no F16 ..then where ?????





The F-16 first flew 47 years ago, and the Air Force may keep it flying decades longer due to problems with the F-35
Benjamin Brimelow
Feb 18, 2021, 6:47 PM

A US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon on a mission near Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom, March 22, 2003. US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Cherie Thurlby

• Nearly 50 years after its first flight, the F-16 remains in service with air forces around the world.
• The US Air Force was set to get rid of its F-16s in the coming decade, but delays on its new fighters mean the Fighting Falcon will fly on.
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

February 2 was the 47th anniversary of the first official test flight for the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
Designed by General Dynamics in the 1970s, the Falcon — or the Viper, as it is commonly and affectionately known by its American pilots — quickly became one of the best fighter jets in history.
Its lightweight, powerful engines, and groundbreaking electronics gave it an edge over almost all of its contemporary adversaries. Its modular airframe proved so adaptable that over a dozen different versions of the fighter have been made since its first flight.
About 4,600 F-16s have been built since 1974, and the fighter is currently in service with 26 countries.
The 'fighter mafia'

A YF-16 aircraft and a YF-17 aircraft. US Air Force
The F-16 came about as a result of requests from a group known as the "fighter mafia," a group of Air Force officers and civilian defense analysts who were unsatisfied with the performance of the F-4 Phantom II in Vietnam, and believed that the Air Force's emphasis on larger, heavier fighters armed only with missiles was a mistake.
What was needed, they argued, was a cost-effective fighter jet that was small, lightweight, fast, and highly maneuverable. The need for a cheaper and lighter fighter grew when the operating costs of the new F-15 became apparent.
In 1969, after intense lobbying, the group was able to secure funding for the Lightweight Fighter program. By 1974, two prototype models from two companies were shown to the Air Force: the YF-16 from General Dynamics and the YF-17 from Northrop Grumman.
The YF-16 was selected as the winner in 1975, though the YF-17 would eventually see service with the Navy and Marine Corps as the F/A-18. By 1980, F-16s were in service with the US Air Force as well as with NATO members Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway.
A modern design

A US Air Force pilot in an F-16 Fighting Falcon at McEntire Joint National Guard Base in South Carolina, April 12, 2008. US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Caycee Cook
The Falcon featured a number of new technologies and systems that put it above its competitors. Its engine could push it to twice the speed of sound, and the cropped delta wings gave it incredible maneuverability, including the ability to pull 9g turns — the first US fighter to do so.
The bubble canopy gave the pilot unobstructed forward and upward vision and improved side and rear vision. The cockpit seat-back angle, set at 30 degrees instead of the usual 13, increased pilot comfort and gravity force tolerance, enabling high-g turns and maneuvers.
The F-16 was the first production aircraft to replace manual flight controls with a digital "fly-by-wire" system, increasing response time and pilot control. It also featured side-stick controls with a hands-on throttle-and-stick set up, giving better ergonomics and allowing the pilot to fly and perform multiple functions at the same time.
Brand-new radar systems and electronics, like concurrent head-mounted and heads-up display, enabled pilots to track and engage enemy aircraft quickly and efficiently with its large arsenal: up to 17,000 pounds of air-to-air missiles and bombs mounted on 11 hardpoints, as well as a 20 mm Vulcan rotary cannon.
A long service record

An Israeli Air Force F-16 moves into position for refueling during an exercise over the Nevada Test and Training Range, July 17, 2009. US Air Force/Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald
The F-16's combat debut was with the Israeli Air Force, shooting down a pair of Syrian Mi-8 helicopters in April 1981 and a MiG-21 in July that year.
On June 7, 1981, the Israelis showed the F-16 could conduct airstrikes, when, during Operation Opera, they destroyed Iraq's unfinished Osirak nuclear reactor. In one engagement in 1982, during the Lebanese Civil War, Israeli F-16s shot down 44 Syrian aircraft, 11 more than the Israeli F-15s that took part in the battle.
The F-16 saw combat in American service for the first time during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, when 249 Air Force F-16s flew over 13,000 sorties, more than any other aircraft during the campaign. Only seven were lost, three to enemy fire.
The Desert Storm missions were mostly airstrikes, but American F-16s did score their first air-to-air kills during the ensuing Operation Southern Watch, downing a MiG-25 in December 1992 and a MiG-23 in January 1993.
US F-16s have seen action in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. F-16s in service with other countries have flown combat missions over Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
F-16s are also seen regularly over the Baltic and Black Sea as part of NATO's air-policing operations and over the Taiwan Strait, where Taiwan regularly scrambles its F-16s to intercept Chinese military aircraft.
Future fighters

A US-made F-16V takes off during an exercise in southern Taiwan, January 15, 2020. AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying
About 1,300 F-16s are in service with the US Air Force, and the jet is still loved by its pilots.
The Air Force originally planned to retire its F-16s in 2025, but budget constraints and the slow delivery of its intended replacement, the F-35, forced the service to initiate a Service Life Extension Program for its F-16s, enabling the fighters to fly until at least 2048.
The Air Force is reportedly interested in buying brand new F-16s, as both F-16s and F-15EXs were in the service's fiscal year 2023 budget request. These would be the first new F-16s to enter US service since 2005.
F-16s are still being built for international customers, and "that system has some wonderful upgraded capabilities that are worth thinking about as part of our capacity solution," Will Roper, former assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, told Aviation Week in January.
It is not known what type of F-16 the Air Force may buy. The most advanced version in active service, the F-16E/F Block 60 "Desert Falcon," is flown by the United Arab Emirates Air Force.
Lockheed Martin, which bought General Dynamics in 1993, has developed the Block 70/72, the newest production F-16, which features large external fuel tanks and new, advanced avionics, notably the APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, and the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System, which has already saved pilots.
Lockheed has also developed the F-16V, its latest, most advanced upgrade configuration, which several countries have purchased, including Taiwan.

NEWSLETTER

And that my friend, free of charge.
Conditions apply.

 

[MilSpec]

That being said, the US has no interest in a Nuclear armed Indian-Pakistani conflict and will put unbiased conflict deescalation on its top priority against taking any sides. So at the end, all Pakistan has to do is hold India off for less than a week.
Essentially, leaving the Indians with zero military options to extract any victories.

Is victory the goal? What if goals for a limited engagement, even a week-long one are quite different. A week-long Air interdiction leveraging ADGE/Mobile AD in an offensive role by either side could render traditional victory just notional, but still work to either provide a kill Pakistan's economy or kill India's growth without crossing any thresholds depending who plans their redundancies better.

 

[SQ8]

Is victory the goal? What if goals for a limited engagement, even a week-long one are quite different. A week-long Air interdiction leveraging ADGE/Mobile AD in an offensive role by either side could render traditional victory just notional, but still work to either provide a kill Pakistan's economy or kill India's growth without crossing any thresholds depending who plans their redundancies better.

The previous engagement was a clear demonstration of what is to be years to come. Anything that goes into what you’re stating directly triggers the nuclear thresholds because the assumption that it is limited to just an air war or limited in any way is folly.

The fog of war dictates that even with fullynetworked and real-time C4I the excess of data too will lead to multiple guesses on what the other side is doing.

The number of assets & stakeholders to predict movements and actions of and assume that Pakistan will accept so and so losses until it launches, or that a limited Brahmos strike on radar is not going to invite a widespread Abdali and Shaheen strike on five times those limited target makes those conservative assumptions look like that of a buffoon who doesn’t know what they are getting into.

26th was a political ploy even if justified - it had political currency and Indian political pundits accept that - whether the IAF was used or a BSF was used, the messaging was political for the home crowd and a threat to Pakistan - what do you think would have happened if the bombs hit and 200 kids from ages of 5-18 were killed. Can you imagine the optics of it?
The entire war on terror in Pakistan was turned around after 149 children were killed - complete carte blanche was given to hunt anyone expressing support for terrorism. All pro- statements for peace were shunned and anyone offering sympathy to the TTP cause was branded a traitor and arrested.
India cities 26/11 as the optics changing event although I disagree on it being the sole catalyst - but in the aftermath a shivering PPPP government was ready to send the ISI Chief to apologize.
Now if 200 kids had died that day, there were no optics other than Jihad available for the masses - regardless of what was being taught at the seminary. There is no limited from that point onwards.

Focus on the flag with the stars and stripes, think as that citizen/resident and then tell me if the video game calculus applies.

 

[airmarshal]

The contract mentions Pakistan. Does it mean its a proposed new purchase or upgrade to existing fleet? It will be awesome if Pakistan could get F-16V.

 

[MilSpec]

The previous engagement was a clear demonstration of what is to be years to come. Anything that goes into what you’re stating directly triggers the nuclear thresholds because the assumption that it is limited to just an air war or limited in any way is folly.

The fog of war dictates that even with fullynetworked and real-time C4I the excess of data too will lead to multiple guesses on what the other side is doing.

I don't understand the strategic outlay as you or others do.
From the tactical standpoint and given I am more acquainted with Indian systems, if planned well, there always remains the potential to hit critical infrastructure to blunt first counter-reaction, and absorb losses, and put out a crippling riposte within 24 hrs, with minimal ground movement. Whether that triggers nuclear threshold is debatable.

The number of assets & stakeholders to predict movements and actions of and assume that Pakistan will accept so and so losses until it launches, or that a limited Brahmos strike on radar is not going to invite a widespread Abdali and Shaheen strike on five times those limited target makes those conservative assumptions look like that of a buffoon who doesn’t know what they are getting into.

That is the environment we live in. Nuclear blackmail will continue to exist, and Indian actions have to be calibrated with Pakistan's military's will to self-preservation. The threat of uncontrolled escalation existed during 26/11 as well as Balakot and will continue to remain for the next event. The approach of Indian establishment possible has to keep evolving.

26th was a political ploy even if justified - it had political currency and Indian political pundits accept that - whether the IAF was used or a BSF was used, the messaging was political for the home crowd and a threat to Pakistan - what do you think would have happened if the bombs hit and 200 kids from ages of 5-18 were killed. Can you imagine the optics of it?
The entire war on terror in Pakistan was turned around after 149 children were killed - complete carte blanche was given to hunt anyone expressing support for terrorism.

Sure, but eventually for India; a time will come when actions would have to be punitive and not just for domestic consumption or external messaging. What then.

India cities 26/11 as the optics changing event although I disagree on it being the sole catalyst - but in the aftermath a shivering PPPP government was ready to send the ISI Chief to apologize.
Now if 200 kids had died that day, there were no optics other than Jihad available for the masses - regardless of what was being taught at the seminary. There is no limited from that point onwards.

Post 26/11 India sat twiddling its thumb, that's all it did. I was quite weary that this dispensation would too do the same, but they played it a bit differently. Food for thought remains, India'a tactical advantage in the systems it deploys on the battlefield has barely any differential when compared to Pakistan, it might have an advantage in volume but that is meaningless in a limited scenario. If you have 20 f7's and I have 100 mig21, in a limited scenario where my scope of action is a 7 aircraft strike package, my numerical superiority has zero value. So the focus really is either of nations growing the differential in deployable technologies, What happens if India's starts to increase that gap, it hasn't happened yet but if it does it won't bode well for Pakistan.

Focus on the flag with the stars and stripes, think as that citizen/resident and then tell me if the video game calculus applies.

You are comparing different species here, there is no spite like that of the American.

 

[CriticalThought]

Because there is no shame in accepting that F-16 block 70/V is way ahead of JF-17 Block 3 or even 4. F-16 is a proven platform and it's the top reason why IAF was kept on the bay for all these years, and even in swift Retort, it was F-16's that scores the kill. JF's are good for Quantity which comes with decent Quality as well but when it comes to F-16's V or BLK 70's they are no match, and if PAF can get 18-36 of F-16V to create a balance in the region with upcoming Rafale, IAF will think 10 times before using their new French toys against Pakistan.

This is absolutely incorrect. The Block 70 is a rip-off.

 

[CriticalThought]

The previous engagement was a clear demonstration of what is to be years to come. Anything that goes into what you’re stating directly triggers the nuclear thresholds because the assumption that it is limited to just an air war or limited in any way is folly.

The fog of war dictates that even with fullynetworked and real-time C4I the excess of data too will lead to multiple guesses on what the other side is doing.

The number of assets & stakeholders to predict movements and actions of and assume that Pakistan will accept so and so losses until it launches, or that a limited Brahmos strike on radar is not going to invite a widespread Abdali and Shaheen strike on five times those limited target makes those conservative assumptions look like that of a buffoon who doesn’t know what they are getting into.

26th was a political ploy even if justified - it had political currency and Indian political pundits accept that - whether the IAF was used or a BSF was used, the messaging was political for the home crowd and a threat to Pakistan - what do you think would have happened if the bombs hit and 200 kids from ages of 5-18 were killed. Can you imagine the optics of it?
The entire war on terror in Pakistan was turned around after 149 children were killed - complete carte blanche was given to hunt anyone expressing support for terrorism. All pro- statements for peace were shunned and anyone offering sympathy to the TTP cause was branded a traitor and arrested.
India cities 26/11 as the optics changing event although I disagree on it being the sole catalyst - but in the aftermath a shivering PPPP government was ready to send the ISI Chief to apologize.
Now if 200 kids had died that day, there were no optics other than Jihad available for the masses - regardless of what was being taught at the seminary. There is no limited from that point onwards.

Focus on the flag with the stars and stripes, think as that citizen/resident and then tell me if the video game calculus applies.

The enemy has learnt our weakness. Install their own puppets on the positions of Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff, and they can get away with anything.

 

[Myth_buster_1]

Only if Pakistani's could do better lobbying in Congress they would get new/Old F-16's with better packages.

Lobbying does not work when you have pennies in your pocket.

 

[Zapper]

India will go for F15EX. In comparison to LM they got better relationship with Boeing with Chinook, C-130, Apache,C17 etc.

F15EX comes under the heavy class fighters and we have over 250 of em. Ever since the MMRCA tender, paid media articles have always come up favoring either the Rafale, F16 or Gripen and some even for the Mig-35. Given our current scenario, Indian armed forces are increasingly moving toward indigenous platforms with the most recent contracts being signed for LCA Mk-1A, Arjun Mk-1A MBT, LCH and several missiles developed by DRDO.

There is some possibility that IAF may go for additional Rafales but that's about it. All future IAF inductions will include LCA Mk-1A, MWF and AMCA in the long run