Pakistan Keen To Purchase F-16 Fleet From Norway: Mukhtar

[deckingraj]

Other operators of A/B f-16's.. the jordanians have bought their share...
there were reports of both Indonesia and thailand showing an interest in these machines..

Still I doubt this sale will occur.. it will be a surprise to me that the US congress which is currently under heavy influence of the Indian lobby will approve this sale... the airframes probably arent the issue.. but the avionics are..
Since those jets were built under license by fokker..(or they assembled.. ??)

Oh comon sir..they sold F-16 block 52 directly to you and we could not do a jack about it....apart from rumors of kill-switch we went empty hands...so this strong and powerful Indian lobby seems to be just an eye wash....

However the article say's F35 will replace these F-16's and then the deal will go....I might be wrong(so please do correct me) but this whole exercise is good 8-10 years away.....the reason is that you just don't stop replace your planes in one go but gradually....What trouble's me is that why would PAF induct more F-16's when at that time-frame people would be inducting 5 generation planes???? Isn't JF-17 the work-horse???

 

[Jungibaaz]

We have enough F-16s!!!

please concentrate on FC-20 purchases, and further development of the JF-17s

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Funny the norwegian defence delegation arrived just today!

 

[notorious_eagle]

Oh comon sir..they sold F-16 block 52 directly to you and we could not do a jack about it....apart from rumors of kill-switch we went empty hands...so this strong and powerful Indian lobby seems to be just an eye wash....

However the article say's F35 will replace these F-16's and then the deal will go....I might be wrong(so please do correct me) but this whole exercise is good 8-10 years away.....the reason is that you just don't stop replace your planes in one go but gradually....What trouble's me is that why would PAF induct more F-16's when at that time-frame people would be inducting 5 generation planes???? Isn't JF-17 the work-horse???

How many options are their available to purchase 5th Generation Planes? You have the F22 which is unavailable for export and the F35 which is available for export but is very pricey and i doubt PAF will want to be dependant on another plane that is manufactured by the Americans. Also the F35 wont be available for export at least until 2025, orders need to be fulfilled for the Americans and countries that invested money in the development of the F35. JXX is the realistic option but we don't know when it will be available for production.

The F16 is a very important part of Pakistan's war machinery due to PAF's experience with this machine and to this day its a very lethal machine. We need a plane that can counter 300 MKI, 51 M2K's, 69 MIG 29's and 126 MRCA's. I doubt Pakistan will go for the F16's that Norway has, reason being Pakistan can simply get surplus F16's from the US under EDA free of charge. Due to the induction of F35's, USAF will be retiring dozens of F16's which PAF can easily get it hands on. Put them through the MLU process and they come out as good as new. Its a very cost effective solution and PAF has the necessary infrastructure to absorb these planes quickly.

 

[raveolution]

The threat is from SU30+Mig29+Mirage2000. PAK-FA or whatever it is still a long way to go and not an immediate threat. So we have to take all measures to counter the present threat not some PAK-FA, FGFA or whatever FA it is.

In that case the earliest you can get these birds from Norway is not before 2018 - 2020 when they will start getting replaced with F-35's. So by then you will have a lot of FA's and MRCA's to worry about, forget the 30's, 29's and 2000's...

 

[Areesh]

In that case the earliest you can get these birds from Norway is not before 2018 - 2020 when they will start getting replaced with F-35's. So by then you will have a lot of FA's and MRCA's to worry about, forget the 30's, 29's and 2000's...

Lot of FA's. Are you serious with this comment?

 

[raveolution]

Lot of FA's. Are you serious with this comment?

Just repeating the term u used in ur earlier post.

 

[deckingraj]

How many options are their available to purchase 5th Generation Planes? You have the F22 which is unavailable for export and the F35 which is available for export but is very pricey and i doubt PAF will want to be dependant on another plane that is manufactured by the Americans. Also the F35 wont be available for export at least until 2025, orders need to be fulfilled for the Americans and countries that invested money in the development of the F35. JXX is the realistic option but we don't know when it will be available for production.

You are right about the options available(or say Lack off) for 5 generation planes...However that is what the troubling part is....No offense but F-16 is way too old a platform...10 years from now it is going to be even more obsolete....Yes right now it is a very potent plane and back bone of PAF but why to keep it like that???? Don't you think PAF should start looking into other options especially when we are talking about a decade from now???

The F16 is a very important part of Pakistan's war machinery due to PAF's experience with this machine and to this day its a very lethal machine. We need a plane that can counter 300 MKI, 51 M2K's, 69 MIG 29's and 126 MRCA's. I doubt Pakistan will go for the F16's that Norway has, reason being Pakistan can simply get surplus F16's from the US under EDA free of charge. Due to the induction of F35's, USAF will be retiring dozens of F16's which PAF can easily get it hands on. Put them through the MLU process and they come out as good as new. Its a very cost effective solution and PAF has the necessary infrastructure to absorb these planes quickly.

OK but this will happen whenever it will happen however getting into deals right now for a plane that you most probably will get in 6-8 years, thereafter add more time for MLU's and you enter the era of 5 generation planes doesn't sound logical to me.....b/w by that time you would have already gone through MLU for existing block 52's, no???.....I am sorry but something is not fitting in here....By the time these F-16's arrive IAF would be seriously thinking of yet another MLU's for Migs...Shouldn't J-10 and its improved versions be the focus as compared to a very old ar-frame right now????

I know PAF is very professional and they must have thought through all this but need some help to understand what i am perceiving to be a grave problem is not as grave....

 

[deckingraj]

The threat is from SU30+Mig29+Mirage2000. PAK-FA or whatever it is still a long way to go and not an immediate threat. So we have to take all measures to counter the present threat not some PAK-FA, FGFA or whatever FA it is.

You would have been right in case you are getting these planes right away..However that is not the case if we go by the article...

6-8 years should be the minimal time frame by which Norway should expect delivery of F-35...Thereafter they will start phasing out their F-16 which will then be absorbed by PAF...Then there will a MLU performed on them....Don't you think we are looking at around 8-10 years here???? This is the time frame by when our very own MKI's would be around 3 decades old...In other words IAF would be seriosuly looking out for alternatives in the form of yet another MLU or planned phasing out with some other potent alternative....

Ideally i would expect very few F-16's operating in PAF by 2030....The way numbers are looking here i see PAF having sizable fleet of operating F-16's by then...Isn't this a bit to worry about??? I may not be right but something is just not fitting here, hopefully someone can enlighten us here....

 

[Manticore]

even if we consider 50 jf17s/year--- still it wd take atleast 3 years to get 150-200 jf17s

i think 100+ f16s will be bought --
the old ones will eventually be used for spare parts-----------actually its a good idea, considering if we wd have invested in there mlu ,we wouldnt want them to endup grounded because of lack of spares

 

[Jigs]

I am suggesting.

good news.. Less then 5 million dollars per unit is a good deal for PAF

That is a statement which is why i thought you knew the price.

 

[deckingraj]

even if we consider 50 jf17s/year--- still it wd take atleast 3 years to get 150-200 jf17s

i think 100+ f16s will be bought --
the old ones will eventually be used for spare parts-----------actually its a good idea, considering if we wd have invested in there mlu ,we wouldnt want them to endup grounded because of lack of spares

But how will this help your numbers.the logic that i have been given for the prudence of proposed deal???? Are F-16's of Norway going to way better than F-16's of PAF by 2018-2020 that you will straight way move on them??? Also what is the point in using old-aircrafts for spares??? Why not buy spares directly from USA???? As we all know that USA blessing is required for re-sale to occur so in case they are willing to sell you planes why not spares???

 

[Skywalker]

Well well well....are we jumping into conclusions too early is it like another try by Mr. 10% and his agent to make some money. Let the PAF officials confirm this news first.

Mr. 10% tried once for Mirage 2000, let's see. My two pennies.

 

[BATMAN]

A JFT with PAF configuration may cost around $30-$35 million and a scrapped F-16 would by no means cost more than $5-$10 million, depending upon the service life.

PAF will definitely canabalise many of those F-16 for spares to support their existing F-16.

F-16 definitely have more payload capacity and has more internal fuel capacity as compare to JFT.

 

[Imran Khan]

Well well well....are we jumping into conclusions too early is it like another try by Mr. 10% and his agent to make some money. Let the PAF officials confirm this news first.

Mr. 10% tried once for Mirage 2000, let's see. My two pennies.

he is the one who can buy any thing from French old commission relations with sarkozy