When A-7 Corsair II Appeared in PAF Colours !

[Windjammer]

Credit : Sohail Ahmed

In 1974, PAF shortlisted its options to the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger and the Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) A-7 Corsair II. It selected the A-7 Corsair II, and made a formal request to visit LTV Aerospace Corporation to evaluate the aircraft that same year.
By 1977, the US and Pakistan were working on a deal of up to 110 A-7 Corsair II for $500 million US. However, the Jimmy Carter administration cancelled the potential deal on the grounds that the sale could destabilize the balance of power in South Asia.
Washington also hoped to leverage the A-7 as a means to encourage #Pakistan to scale back its then clandestine nuclear weapons program. The #US viewed the A-7 as a potent attack asset, one that should assuage Pakistan’s concerns of India’s nuclear program
(Check out the 70s Bell Bottoms fashion)

 

[Imran Khan]

so USA is snake since ages even when my father not married . while USSR was arming india to teeth back then

 

[Windjammer]

so USA is snake since ages even when my father not married . while USSR was arming india to teeth back then

I once read that PAF was actually interested in the Anglo/French Jaguars but since India went on to purchase them, the A-7s were considered the best other option. You can say, this deal never materialising was a blessing in disguise, later America tried to sell us the F-20 Tiger sharks whereas PAF was keen on the F-16s....even then the Americans tried to push the F-16/79, which was less capable than the standard F-16.....in the end PAF persistence paid off. Come to think of it, had we got the A-7s back then, today most of them would have been grounded.

 

[Imran Khan]

I once read that PAF was actually interested in the Anglo/French Jaguars but since India went on to purchase them, the A-7s were considered the best other option. You can say, this deal never materialising was a blessing in disguise, later America tried to sell us the F-20 Tiger sharks whereas PAF was keen on the F-16s....even then the Americans tried to push the F-16/79, which was less capable than the standard F-16.....in the end PAF persistence paid off. Come to think of it, had we got the A-7s back then, today most of them would have been grounded.

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so USA always want to keep us down graded its not new .

 

[Windjammer]

so USA always want to keep us down graded its not new .

The F-16/79 was designed as the export version, it was less capable and cheaper.

@SQ8 Do you recognise any of the guys in the OP........ I know you are not that old .

 

[Warking]

USA is one of the major factors Pakistan couldn't completely win against India in 1965 and 1999. we had made the devil our friend and for that we deserve it.

 

[untitled]

So it was supposed to replace the B-57 and the F-86?

 

[Windjammer]

So it was supposed to replace the B-57 and the F-86?

Yup, it could fly as fast as the F-86 and carry twice the bomb load of a B-57B , very capable aircraft for it's period.

 

[Bilal9]

I once read that PAF was actually interested in the Anglo/French Jaguars but since India went on to purchase them, the A-7s were considered the best other option. You can say, this deal never materialising was a blessing in disguise, later America tried to sell us the F-20 Tiger sharks whereas PAF was keen on the F-16s....even then the Americans tried to push the F-16/79, which was less capable than the standard F-16.....in the end PAF persistence paid off. Come to think of it, had we got the A-7s back then, today most of them would have been grounded.

View attachment 800108

A7 corsairs and F8 crusaders were fuel-thirsty platforms even worse compared to the F-14s, as all these are carrier-based platforms with extra heavy landing gear and structure built from the ground up. I am glad Pakistan did not go that route although surplus stock was available after the Vietnam conflict died down.

 

[Imran Javed Khan]

I once read that PAF was actually interested in the Anglo/French Jaguars but since India went on to purchase them, the A-7s were considered the best other option. You can say, this deal never materialising was a blessing in disguise, later America tried to sell us the F-20 Tiger sharks whereas PAF was keen on the F-16s....even then the Americans tried to push the F-16/79, which was less capable than the standard F-16.....in the end PAF persistence paid off. Come to think of it, had we got the A-7s back then, today most of them would have been grounded.

View attachment 800108

Most people, including myself, have misunderstood the A-7. It's capabilities far exceeded that of Jagaur or even the Mirage 3s Pakistan was buying. The PAF knew its capabilities and it would indeed have been a game changer. But not worth giving up nuclear deterence.
The A-7 was the ONLY aircraft available to Pakistan or India that had SOW capabilities. The Mirages needed to fly over targets. 110 A-7 would have wipped Indian Airforce bases off the map in the 1980s, or close enough to that.

 

[Windjammer]

Most people, including myself, have misunderstood the A-7. It's capabilities far exceeded that of Jagaur or even the Mirage 3s Pakistan was buying. The PAF knew its capabilities and it would indeed have been a game changer. But not worth giving up nuclear deterence.
The A-7 was the ONLY aircraft available to Pakistan or India that had SOW capabilities. The Mirages needed to fly over targets. 110 A-7 would have wipped Indian Airforce bases off the map in the 1980s, or close enough to that.

Mirages were already in the PAF inventory when A-7s were being negotiated.....it was a subsonic aircraft compared to Mach-2 Mirages and Supersonic Jaguars......although the A-7s could carry a couple of sidewinders but by design it was an attack aircraft .

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

I once read that PAF was actually interested in the Anglo/French Jaguars but since India went on to purchase them, the A-7s were considered the best other option. You can say, this deal never materialising was a blessing in disguise, later America tried to sell us the F-20 Tiger sharks whereas PAF was keen on the F-16s....even then the Americans tried to push the F-16/79, which was less capable than the standard F-16.....in the end PAF persistence paid off. Come to think of it, had we got the A-7s back then, today most of them would have been grounded.

View attachment 800108

The PAF was looking for a new attack aircraft in the 1970s. It originally selected the A-7, but when the US canned the deal, the PAF approached the UK and France about the Jaguar. Even though India was getting the Jaguar, the UK/France were happy to sell it to Pakistan, and the PAF was happy to pick it up. However, because of the PAF's larger requirements, the program was too expensive.

Though Carter didn't greenlight the F-16 or F-18L to Pakistan, he did offer to facilitate a loan for France to sell the Mirage F-1 and Mirage 2000 to the PAF. So, if not for the F-16, the PAF would've likely gone for that combination. By that point, Dassault had configured the F-1 into a decent attack aircraft, and the Mirage 2000 was a promising air-to-air platform.

Even when the F-16 entered the picture, the PAF was actually still interested in the A-7. The latter was a true strike-optimize design and many of its core features wouldn't be in the F-16 until Block-40/42. However, we just couldn't afford both platforms, and, ultimately, the PAF decided to look ahead to the growth of the F-16. That said, if money wasn't an issue, the PAF would've ordered both the F-16 and A-7 back in the 1980s.

Fun fact: The PAF had even asked for the F/A-18 back in the 1980s (see WikiLeaks). However, the U.S. said it wasn't available for sale at the time, but the PAF learned enough about the fighter to know that it would've been an excellent multirole design.

 

[MIRauf]

So it was supposed to replace the B-57 and the F-86?

It was an Attack ( A-7 ) plane foremost, would have struggled to replace the F-86.

 

[Imran Javed Khan]

Mirages were already in the PAF inventory when A-7s were being negotiated.....it was a subsonic aircraft compared to Mach-2 Mirages and Supersonic Jaguars......although the A-7s could carry a couple of sidewinders but by design it was an attack aircraft .

I maybe should have emphasised a little more that the A-7 was an attack platform and had no capabilities for Air Defence, Interception, or Air Superiority.

In the attack role, the US was the only stong proponent of a SOW solution to SAMs. The French, Brits, other Europeans, Russians all went strongly with high speed and low level attacks.

In 1991, the debate was settled in favour of SOW.

It is notable that PAF had decided to commit so strongly to SOW in the 1970s. Perhaps 1987 would not havd been known for cricket diplomacy, but the year Pakistan repaid its debt.

 

[SQ8]

The F-16/79 was designed as the export version, it was less capable and cheaper.

@SQ8 Do you recognise any of the guys in the OP........ I know you are not that old .

Gentlemen with the mustache in the middle was a regular event(wedding, milad) visitor to another much senior PAF gentlemen whom I am related to.