Boosting Air defence: F-16s Replace Americans at Jacobabad Airbase
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF), in a significant move, has equipped the newly renovated Jacobabad airbase with close to three dozen F-16s, including the advanced Block 52+ version of the aircraft.
Pakistan has spent over $3.75 billion on both the revamping of Jacobabad airbase and the acquisition of new planes, officials told The Express Tribune. The air force is in a better position to encounter any threats after acquiring the new F-16s which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, they added.
Defence analyst Lt General (retd) Talat Masood said this was a significant development especially as it had come months after the Americans had quit the airbase. Masood, however, warned of a shift in the strategic balance of the region, saying “India’s new aircraft deal with France would leave Pakistan far behind”. For all intents and purposes, he said, Pakistan should continue its cooperation with the US to enhance its defence capability. “Pakistan and the US are reciprocal when it comes to regional stability in South Asia,” he added.
India is all set to reach an agreement with France over the purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) costing over $12 billion, making it the largest international defence deal by value in recent years, according to Indian media. Chief of Air Staff Rao Qamar Suleman and Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had formally announced the completion of Jacobabad Airbase on February 12. The Chief of Air Staff said that all American personnel, including the Training Support Team for the new F-16s, have left after training PAF pilots and other technical staff.
“The new F-16 Block 52 fleet will pave the way for establishing the balance of power in the region,” said General Kayani.
“This airbase is now the largest platform for modern aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons,” a senior PAF official told The Express Tribune. “It’s an outcome of years long cooperation between Pakistan and the US.”
Pakistan had purchased 18 new F-16 Block 52+ aircraft, while 14 used F-16s were supplied free of charge by the US. The US Training Support Team consisted of over 200 personnel, including staff to train PAF personnel on making the aircraft operational. PAF has also recruited over 4, 000 employees for the newly renovated strategic airbase which is located close to the western frontier bordering both Iran and Afghanistan.
Source: The Express Tribune
In case of American aggression from Afghanistan, what good will these aircraft be if they recognize American planes as friendlies…
Has someone thought about this.
Pakistan Zindabad!!!
Will they able to stop American Drone attacks in Waziristan ? If they are only meant for India, then India has its TODE.
And still pakis hate america.while the latter is doin so much to keep the trp (terrorism republic of pakistan) alive.
are these the planes that were owed to us but we never got all those yrs ago? or is this another purchase?
In case of a conflict with either US or India these planes will be of no use.
In the 1980s America sold defense network computers to Iraq, before the first gulf war the US sent virus to those computers via satelite which destroyed those computers and caused communication havoc in Iraq.
During cold war Poland bought some communication equipments from France. The CIA went to that company in France and made them put bugs which they could activate from satellite to destroy the Polish communication network. After Poland joined NATO they told Poland about it and removed those bugs.
If America has done this decades ago, then why they would not do this to Pakistan when there is already tension between Pakistan and US.
It is so sad that despite these fore-knowledge Pakistan went ahead and bought these definitely bugged F16 planes, and spent billions of dollars of hard earned money of poor Pakistani people on them. And then they sent the original un-bugged F16 planes to get them fully bugged by the US. Americans must be laughing at this.
I am sure when Pakistan would really need these planes during a conflict, then these planes will become the biggest assets for our enemies, US and India.
To be safe Pakistan should rely upon JF-17 planes and only on Pakistani or Chinese equipments.