Pakistan's F-16 buys are good for us
By J.R. LABBE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The writer of a recent letter to the editor was doing his darnedest to find a silver lining in the cloud that was the deadly earthquake in eastern Pakistan.
Perhaps Mother Nature's wrath will have brought some good, he suggested, if it means the Pakistani government can't afford to buy American-made F-16s.
Perish the thought that one day those U.S.-made planes would be turned against soldiers from the very nation that provided them, as were the small arms with which the United States equipped Afghan freedom fighters so they could try to turn back a Soviet invasion in the 1980s. Some of those weapons have been used by Taliban sympathizers and anti-democratic warlords against coalition forces that removed the Taliban from power in Afghanistan after 9-11.
The writer's wish came true Friday, when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced that he's suspending a major purchase of additional Fighting Falcons. During a tour of Muzaffarabad, a city devastated by the quake, Musharraf said that the money is needed more for recovery.
Notice my inclusion of additional in that last paragraph. Pakistan is among the 24 nations that have purchased various models of the F-16 from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and its predecessor General Dynamics since the plane went into full production. Pakistan entered into an agreement with the U.S. foreign government military sales program that delivered the first planes back in 1983. Currently, 32 are operational.
Interesting historical note: Pakistan's F-16s logged plenty of air combat during the Soviet war in neighboring Afghanistan during the 1980s. Soviet aircraft would often follow Afghan mujahedeen fighters fleeing over the border into Pakistan, and the Pakistanis would defend their airspace. Pakistani F-16s claimed about a dozen kills.
In the more than two decades that Lockheed has been delivering F-16s to foreign nations, not once has a plane been used in aggression against the United States. The leaders of the nations that purchase F-16s know very well that if they want to keep those birds flying, with a steady supply line of parts and upgrades, they must maintain good relations with the United States.
Musharraf need only look at his country's history to know what could happen should he do something to anger America. In the early 1990s, Pakistan inked a deal for 28 additional planes. But then the Pakistanis engaged in some ill-advised saber-rattling and detonated a nuclear device. In May 1998, President Clinton signed an executive directive issuing sanctions against Pakistan; stop orders were put in place faster than you could say, "Armageddon."
Those sanctions were lifted in the fall of 2001. Pakistan's cooperation with the United States in fighting the war on terror deserves recognition.
Selling additional F-16s to foreign partners is important, not just for diplomatic and defense purposes but for local economic reasons.
Lockheed is rapidly approaching a crossroads in its production lines. The next generation of war fighter -- the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- is still in the system development and demonstration phase. Congress is playing budget games with the funding needed to move into production. And although a high rate of F-35 production is planned for 2009 and 2010, Lockheed very much needs additional F-16 orders to keep all the lights burning at its Fort Worth facility between now and then.
In the interest of full disclosure, I reveal my lifelong affection for almost anything that has a Lockheed or General Dynamics logo affixed to it. My father was a pilot in the 1940s and '50s and sat behind the controls of aircraft manufactured by Convair, the predecessor of General Dynamics. He met my mother when she worked as a secretary at the "bomber plant" on Fort Worth's west side.
Mom went back to work at GD after my dad was killed in 1958. It was there that she met my stepfather, who eventually became director of manufacturing and facilities for General Dynamics.
I'm a self-confessed homer when it comes to my admiration for Lockheed and its crucial role in Fort Worth's economy.
Musharraf's decision is nothing to cheer about -- not in this town.
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