Posted on 09/05/2003 5:10:17 PM PDT by Brian S
* PAF says Airborne System to be on agenda in defence talks with US
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, worried by nuclear rival India’s plans to acquire a strategic radar system from Israel, said on Friday it is seeking second-hand F-16 fighters from Belgium and will also request a similar US radar system.
Air Commodore Sarfraz Ahmed Khan, the spokesman for the Pakistan Air Force, said an Airborne Early Warning System would be on Pakistan’s shopping list when the US-Pakistani Defence Consultative Group meets in Washington later this month.
Khan said Pakistan would also repeat its request for the supply of an initial 28 F-16 aircraft the United States refused to deliver in the 1990s due to concerns about Islamabad’s nuclear programme.
In addition, Pakistan had asked Belgium to sell it about 20 F-16s, he said, although such a deal could be obstructed by Belgian re-export restrictions.
“We are looking to obtain these aircraft from wherever we can get them,” he told Reuters, adding that the request made about a month ago was being evaluated by Brussels.
“I think money would not be a problem. The only problem would be the export restrictions,” he said.
Khan’s comments came ahead of a visit to India next week by Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which has raised expectations of a deal worth more than $1 billion in which India would buy Phalcon airborne radars.
Such a purchase would bring large parts of Pakistan under Indian surveillance and Islamabad said last month it deplored Washington’s announcement that it had no objection to the deal.
Reiterating that response on Friday, the foreign ministry said it would further worsen conventional arms imbalances and “adversely affect the delicate strategic balance in South Asia.”
In a meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in June, US President George W Bush rejected his request for the supply of the F-16s.
Khan said the request would be made again during the Defence Consultative Group meeting at which Pakistan would also seek spares for existing US hardware. Asked if Pakistan saw any prospect of success in securing the F-16s, he replied: “You can’t say; there are so many variables to it. In the United States it is not a matter for one agency, you have Congress, you have the government, you have the Pentagon.”
Pakistan is also involved in a venture with China to produce a fighter aircraft, designated the JF-17 Thunder by Pakistan and the FC-1 Valiant Dragon by China. A prototype flew for the first time this week.
Khan said series production of the aircraft was due to start in 2006 and Pakistan expected to buy about 150, though it was not seen as a substitute for the high-tech F-16, but as a replacement for ageing F-7s, A-5s and Mirages. —Reuters
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