State Department Reprimanded Pakistan for Misusing F-16s, Document Shows

[Haris Ali2140]

Bro as war is imposed surely then the assets under control are free to move wherever they deem necessary. This news will be alarming in military circles. Uncle sam is exercising too much control and will impact its future sales globally

There is nothing new in this news.

 

[Pomegranate]

dont worry its a lollipop for india.

 

[Trailer23]

And I suppose you have full access to policies of pakistan....jog on mr perfect

I don't believe I made any statement pointing out that I was Mr. Know-it-all, however, I will take the compliment of 'Mr. Perfect' even it was out of sheer spite.

And contrary to your previous post, that American danda went up Abhi-Nando's @$$ first and of memory serves, it was courtesy of an F-16.

But hey..., i'm sure General Bajwa & the ACM will side with you on not wanting to take any more...'American Danda'.

Jogging On

So where you at?​

 

[CIA Mole]

With all these restrictions the jets should come at a steep discount

 

[Ultima Thule]

No haed feelings.

But its soooo old now. It isn't even funny anymore.
There are countless threads on Quora on the same topic and is filled crazy theories from Indians.

Ohhh man on Feb 27 they were dead sure that US will render the F-16s useless.

I am thinking that why USA concerns about using/moving f16/AMRAAM to forward air bases towards LOC ( threat of espionage by the enemy (India/China)) which is just ridiculous, India already had been accessed to Singapore's f16 then why US officials showed didn't showed a concern about that,if f16s are not for defense for Pakistan then what are the purpose of our f16/AMRAAM, to fight imaginary AIR FORCE of Taliban/terrorists

 

[TsAr]

It amazing to see that its been 10 months and India has still not recovered from 27 Feb event. They are still trying to prove that uncle sam is not happy with Pakistan use of F-16's. Plz just get over with it now.

 

[Trango Towers]

I don't believe I made any statement pointing out that I was Mr. Know-it-all, however, I will take the compliment of 'Mr. Perfect' even it was out of sheer spite.

And contrary to your previous post, that American danda went up Abhi-Nando's @$$ first and of memory serves, it was courtesy of an F-16.

But hey..., i'm sure General Bajwa & the ACM will side with you on not wanting to take any more...'American Danda'.

Jogging On

So where you at?​

Are you happy after that rant....what a waste of bandwidth. Again put your rattle away and jog on

 

[GriffinsRule]

Time for Pakistan to declare the IAF as a terrorist organisation, then no problem using F16s against the Indian Airforce.

Exactly what I was thinking. But not IAF but Indian military as a whole.

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

Brilliant & Fascinating choice of words.

Perhaps a stroll down GHQ & sharing your thoughts will do wonders for your.

Good Luck.

Well put. And before any other one could pick it up, India Today ran the story early morning.

Really? Okay, i'm not sure how you came to that conclusion...

Regardless of what you & I think - our opinions and/or advice won't be taken by the Military Heads. And i'm certain they know whats good for their respective forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) - better than you or I.

As for the 'F-16 Saga'... Do you need to be reminded that today you're on your high horse speaking of the events in February because of that very equipment. Now the Thunders may have gotten a Lock/Tone on a number of IAF intruders, but not a single SD-10 was launched. Had the F-16 not been in our inventory, we'd be seeing more Balakots through out the year.

The enemy knows what to fear. And the fear of God has gone to their heads (-courtesy of the Vipers).

Yeah, the JF-17 is a great jet & the Block III will boost our Air Force, but there is no doubt the backbone is still the Fighting Falcon.

That being said, we shouldn't stop developing or producing the JF-17.

As for Project AZM. I stay far away from that topic altogether.

Good points!! F-16 gives PAF the coverage of the known elements. Since they have done the job quite well, the unknown elements' secrecy could be maintained....

Your secrets are your prisoners; when they're out you become their prisoners - Hazret-i Ali (RA)

 

[Mav3rick]

The nerve!!

They reprimand us for doing exactly what we bought the Jets to do, i.e. to defend our skies!!

 

[AMRAAM]

This is how Dawn reports it today.

=============================

https://www.dawn.com/news/1522014/document-reveals-official-us-position-on-f-16s

WASHINGTON: The United States understood Pakistan’s need to use F-16 fighter jets to defend itself during an Indian intrusion in February this year, shows a document published on Thursday.

The document, obtained by the US News and World Report magazine, however, also shows that Washington was not happy with Islamabad’s decision to deploy these US-supplied aircraft and missiles to forward positions.

The US State Department raised both points in a letter then-undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Andrea Thomson wrote to Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan.

“We understand from you that these aircraft movements were done in support of national defence objectives,” said the letter sent to Islamabad in August, months after the dog-fight in which a Pakistani F-16 brought down an Indian jet in Azad Kashmir.

But “the US government considers the relocation of aircraft to non-US government authorised bases concerning and inconsistent with the F-16 Letter of Offer and Acceptance”, it added.

Several diplomatic officials and analysts the magazine spoke to noted that the letter did not expressly mention the Indian complaint that using the F-16 to shoot down the Indian fighter jet was a violation of the terms of use for US-supplied weapons.

They argued that acknowledging this in a formal State Department transmission would have triggered procedures to reprimand Islamabad, which the Trump administration wanted to avoid.

The experts also noted that the Trump administration was now attempting to repair its contentious relations with Islamabad, which was once a close US ally in the wars against the Soviets and Islamists.

In March this year, Pakistani officials pointed out that the F-16 contract not only acknowledged the aircraft’s “deterrence value” to Pakistan in a future conflict with India, but also noted that it could prevent a nuclear clash between the two neighbours.

Both points are specifically mentioned in a message the then US ambassador in Islamabad Anne Patterson sent to the State Department on April 24, 2008.

“An enhanced F-16 programme also has deterrence value by giving Pakistan time and space to employ a conventional, rather than nuclear, reaction in the event of a future conflict with India,” wrote Ms Thompson, a military intelligence officer who first entered the administration as Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2019

 

[fitpOsitive]

A State Department letter details American concerns about how Pakistan fielded fighter jets after a skirmish with India over Kashmir.

By Paul D. Shinkman, Senior Writer, National Security Dec. 11, 2019, at 5:54 p.m.

American officials allege the Pakistani air force used U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets in ways that violated the terms of the two countries' agreement in early 2019. AAMIR QURESHI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A TOP AMERICAN DIPLOMAT sent a written reprimand to the chiefs of the Pakistani air force in August accusing them of misusing U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets and jeopardizing their shared security, according to documents obtained by U.S. News.

The communication came months after India claimed one such F-16 shot down one of its fighter jets during a days-long skirmish in February over the contested region of Kashmir, which would amount to a fundamental violation by Pakistan of the terms governing the sale of its U.S. fighter jets and a dangerous form of military escalation among nuclear powers.

A source who viewed the August letter, written by Andrea Thompson, then-undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, says it serves as a direct response to U.S. concerns about the F-16 use over Kashmir in February, though the letter itself does not specifically reference the incident.

Addressed to the head of the Pakistani air force, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, the letter began by relaying the State Department's confirmation that Pakistan had moved the F-16s and accompanying American-made missiles to unapproved forward operating bases in defiance of its agreement with the U.S. Using diplomatic language, Thompson, who has since left government, warned the Pakistanis that their behavior risked allowing these weapons to fall into the hands of malign actors and "could undermine our shared security platforms and infrastructures."

The letter represents the first admission since February from the U.S. of its concerns about how Pakistan used its fleet of F-16s in stark violation of the original terms of the sale. A State Department spokeswoman said in March that the department acknowledged the Indian reports of Pakistan's misusing the fighters in the February skirmish, adding "we're following that issue very closely."

The State Department declined to respond to questions on the record. An official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the department as a matter of policy does not comment publicly "on the contents of bilateral agreements involving U.S. defense technologies, nor the communications we have about them."

The Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C. did not respond to requests for comment.

Several diplomatic officials and analysts with experience in Pakistan say it is not surprising that Thompson did not expressly mention in the message U.S. concerns about using the F-16s to shoot down the Indian fighter jet. Acknowledging in a formal State Department transmission such a clear violation of the congressionally approved terms for selling the fighter jets to Pakistan would likely have triggered formal procedures to reprimand Islamabad at a time the Trump administration is attempting to repair contentious relations with the ally.

Thompson, a career military intelligence officer who first entered the administration as Vice President Mike Pence's national security adviser, admonished Pakistan in the letter for having "relocated, maintained and operated" the American made F-16s and the AMRAAM missiles they use from forward operating bases not approved under the original terms of the sale. The former Army colonel, who left the White House in September, also expressed concern at the access Pakistani officials allowed American weapons inspectors.

"While we understand from you that these aircraft movements were done in support of national defense objectives," Thompson wrote in the letter, "the U.S. government considers the relocation of aircraft to non-U.S. government authorized bases concerning and inconsistent with the F-16 Letter of Offer and Acceptance."

"Such actions could subject sensitive U.S.-technologies to diversion to or access by third parties, and could undermine our shared security platforms and infrastructures," Thompson wrote.

A flare-up in military tensions between Pakistan and India began in mid-February, after a Pakistani militant group claimed credit for a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian security personnel. India has consistently claimed that Pakistan uses militants to destabilize the region, which Pakistan and India have each claimed since they were separated by partition in 1947.

The subsequent tensions escalated as both countries deployed fighter jets, and in one dogfight an Indian plane was shot down. Its pilot landed in Pakistani territory and was imprisoned until his release in March. On Feb. 28, the Indian government presented evidence it says showed Pakistani jets fired AMRAAM missiles at the Indian planes.

The Pakistani armed forces possess 76 American-supplied F-16s – by far the most potent fighter jet in its military arsenal. Pakistan first began receiving the plane in 1982 and maintains them under strict rules imposed by the State Department, the Department of Defense and Congress. Among the rules are that Islamabad may only house the fighters and the corresponding American missiles on two specific air force bases at Mushaf and Shahbaz and that it only uses them for counter-terror operations, not against foreign countries.

The agreement for their sale and subsequent operation, governed in part by the State Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, also stipulates that American contractors and mechanics must have access to the jets at any time of day or night both to help maintain them and to monitor how the Pakistani military employs them.

The agency in July – weeks before Thompson's letter – re-approved the terms for these monitors, known as Technical Security Teams, at a cost of $125 million.

"This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by protecting U.S. technology through the continued presence of U.S. personnel that provide 24/7 end-use monitoring," the agency wrote in a statement announcing the renewed contract, which must receive congressional approval.

Those who track aerial combat in the region and the weapons used for it aren't surprised that Pakistan would risk being caught violating its agreement with the U.S. when it regards an issue as hotly contested as Kashmir.

"Given how volatile the situation was, it was important for both sides not to lose face in getting their plane shot down," says Karl Kaltenthaler, a professor at the University of Akron. "It makes sense that Pakistan would do that, but it was at the potential cost of getting called out by the U.S. for using the weapons platform that way. For the Pakistanis, this is how they operate."

In her letter, Thompson raised concerns about American access to the bases and the U.S.-made equipment there. She said it had been four years since Office of Defense Representative–Pakistan – the office that carries out defense cooperation with partner countries – had been allowed to perform an assessment of the security vulnerabilities on the Pakistani bases.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world-r...n-in-august-for-misusing-f-16s-document-shows

Americans think we are stupid?

The thing is, did we pay them for these toys or not? If we did them they are no one. We don't see anything coming from USA anyways.

 

[Talon]

Guys, guys, guys, try to understand the contents of the subject. It has nothing to do how and where the PAF uses the F-16s, there are no restrictions whatsoever on PAF F-16s. however, the Americans are keen to keep the Block-52s undercover and guard their technology jealously and the whole issue concerns them as i have disclosed before that No 5 Squadron was moved out of Shahbaz and deployed elsewhere during the height of hostilities hence US showed concerns.

''Addressed to the head of the Pakistani air force, Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, the letter began by relaying the State Department's confirmation that Pakistan had moved the F-16s and accompanying American-made missiles to unapproved forward operating bases in defiance of its agreement with the U.S.''

Yep the issue (if true) is not of the use of F16 against India rather moving Blk 52s to different MOBs (not gonna name which ones) and not FOBs.

And the movement too was not of the whole squadron,just few jets.

 

[American Pakistani]

US is sucking up to India. Sad.

Indian lobby is strong in United States. The fact Pakistanis don't understand. India recently even hired a firm to lobby for Indian interest in the United States, that on top of already present Americans of Indian origin whose heart lies in India and even though American citizen, their interests lies with India.

 

[Imran Khan]

f-16 was last fighter we buy from USA so nothing is to worry