Defence News
Sunday, June 24, 2018
By: Defence News
The F-16 fighter is one of Pakistan's most prolific weapon in the Air Force, and the downfall of the US-Pakistan strategic alliance has taken a toll on its combat capability. Problems with F-16 fights are the most common when they have gone out at the end of their life cycle.
Of course, the Pakistani Air Force will not sit still to see their children dying, so they have come up with another partner to upgrade their dying F-16 fleet. And that name is Turkey.
Up to now, the Pakistan Air Force has in its fleet about 70 old F-16s including the F-16A / B and F-16C / D variants. In order to improve its capabilities and capabilities, Pakistan has signed a contract with Turkey to upgrade all F-16 versions it has.
This information was also indirectly mentioned by Pakistani media when the air force successfully tested the aerial refueling system for the far inferior Chinese JF-17 light fighter line manufactured by the Pakistan aviation industry. The overhead refueling tanker, the Ilyushin-78, comes from Ukraine.
The successful aerial refueling of the JF-17 shows that Pakistan has improved the long-range operational capability of the JF-17, one of the efforts to expand the range of the combat aircraft, helping Pakistan reduce its dependence on the F-16 fighters.
Pakistan will have no choice but to now heavily reply on Chinese technology compared to the far advance American and Western aerospace technology.
Pakistan claims the technology used by the JF-17 can also be applied to the F-16 variants that Pakistan has with the appropriate customization as both fighters are NATO-designed.
The installation of the F-16 aerial refueling system, including the Block 52 variant, would allow Pakistani F-16s to assume long-range combat roles no less than heavy-duty fighters.
The refueling test with the improved F-16 was tested by Pakistan with US refueling aircraft. However, the US suddenly stopped cooperating with Pakistan in this test, which made the Pakistani F-16 upgrade program suspended indefinitely.
In an effort to expand the range of its combat aircraft, Pakistan has signed a contract to purchase four new Ukrainian Ilyushin-78 tankers and use them as platforms to expand its combat capabilities. Instead of relying too much on the United States as before.
Pakistan's limited military capabilities compared to the much superior Indian Air Force has widened after the US has moved closer to India and shut Pakistan out. While India has almost inducted around 272 heavy weight multi-role Su-30 MKIs and is in the process of absorbing the state-of-the-art Rafale Jets from 2019 onwards, Pakistan is now heavily dependent on cheap Chinese Fighter Jets like the JF-17s
http://www.defencenews.in/article/C...ake-a-hit-as-US-Pak-relations-nosedive-559037
