Saifullah Sani
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Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has delivered the last four of 41 upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16A/B Block 15 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), the company said on 2 September.
TAI upgraded the PAF's F-16s under the Peace Drive II programme, a mid-life upgrade (MLU) project that was agreed in 2009 and began in October 2010.
In May 2010 Lockheed Martin was awarded a USD325 million Foreign Military Sales contract to provide 35 MLU kits for the Block 15 aircraft, as well as 18 MLU kits for F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft. The deal was supplemented in July 2011 by a USD42.3 million contract for a further 10 MLU kits.
According to a 2008 congressional statement by Vice Admiral Jeffrey Wieringa, then director of the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the upgrade involved "Falcon STAR structural upgrade kits ... and MLU avionics upgrade kits".
VAdm Wieringa described this upgrade as "very similar to that provided to other F-16A/B customers" and as replacing "critical structural components in the F-16 required to return the A/B airframe to a structural life of 8,000 spectrum hours", while the "MLU avionics upgrade kits are being designed to provide the Pakistan Block 15A/B aircraft with many of the same capabilities as the new Block 52 F-16s that the PAF is procuring".
According to his statement, the MLU upgrade kits included: Northrop Grumman APG-68(V)9 radars; Embedded GPS/INS (EGI); Link 16 datalink; APX-113 Advanced Identify Friend or Foe (AIFF); Color Cockpit with Color Moving Map; ALQ- 211(V)9 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS) pod; Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS) Cockpit and External Lighting; Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod; Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS); reconnaissance pod capability; improved avionics systems; JDAM capability; EGBU capability; AIM-120 AMRAAM capability; and AGM-84 Harpoon capability.
VAdm Wieringa added: "While many of the avionics systems and capabilities are common with the new Block 52s and the MLU, some significant differences remain between the MLU F-16 Block 15s and the new PAF Block 52s: there are no improvements to the Block 15s mission range and loiter time; there are no engine improvements; and there are no improvements to payload capacity."
In February 2014, a senior Pakistani government official confirmed that the PAF was "close to concluding a deal" to purchase 12 F-16As and one F-16B version from the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The PAF confirmed that all 13 were originally Block 15 models that have also undergone MLU programmes. The first five were inducted into the PAF in April 2014 at Mushaf airbase in Sargodha.
TAI completes Pakistan F-16 fleet mid-life upgrade - IHS Jane's 360
