Pentagon approves potential sale of $450 million worth of equipment, services to maintain Pakistan's F-16s

The US Department of Defense has approved a potential contract worth $450 million for equipment and services to Pakistan for the maintenance of F-16 aircraft.

The principal contractor in this contract will be the American company, Lockheed Martin.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Defense on Wednesday, it has been stated that a contract worth possibly $450 million has been approved for the maintenance of Pakistan's F-16 aircraft and related equipment and services.

According to the statement, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has provided the required certification in this regard, after which Congress has been notified today about this potential sale.

The statement said that the Government of Pakistan requested to maintain the maintenance and support of F-16 aircraft as in the past to support the F-16 fleet of the Pakistan Air Force and other factors in this regard. Can be added.

It should be noted that in July 2019, the US Department of Defense announced a $12.5 million grant to Pakistan for the maintenance of F-16 fighter jets, and this process continued even before that.

The US-made F-16 aircraft are the most important part of Pakistan's air combat capability.

Pakistan has a total of 85 F-16 aircraft, of which 66 are older Block 15 aircraft and 19 are newer Block 52 aircraft. These planes are under the supervision of the American technical security team.

.@StateDept authorizes a Foreign Military Sales #FMS case for #Pakistan for follow on effort and consolidation of prior F-16 sustainment and support cases to support the Pakistan Air Force F-16 fleet valued at up to $450 million #FMSUpdate - https://t.co/qkPRC9mOWK

— Political-Military Affairs, US Dept of State (@StateDeptPM) September 7, 2022

Engineering, technical and logistics services to be provided by the US government and Lockheed Martin under this latest potential contract are listed in the announcement.

According to the statement, this potential sale does not include adding any new capabilities, weapons, etc. to the aircraft.

"It will also help achieve our foreign policy and national security goals so that Pakistan maintains the ability to operate alongside the US and coalition forces in counter-terrorism operations and potential future operations."

The statement added that the potential sale would help Pakistan continue to maintain its F-16 fleet, which would help maintain Pakistan's air-to-ground capability in counter-terrorism operations. will

"Pakistan will have no difficulty in adding these services and equipment to its forces and this potential sale will not change the basic mirror balance in the region."