Defence News: PAF to get F-16s!

PAF to get F-16s!

20-26 May, 2002
Pakistan’s Price
Washington/New Delhi (Defence News, By Jason Sherman, with contributions from Amy Svitak and Vivek Raghuvanshi)

Pakistan is pressing the United States for F-16s, AWACS and other help with reviving its sanction-stricken armed forces in return for its support of the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

Pakistan’s top Air Force officer met with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials in mid-May to argue that his nation sacrificed to meet U.S. needs in Operation Enduring Freedom and now merits full restoration of military relations. Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir said in a May 14 interview that the U.S. must lift its embargo on the sale of spare parts for Pakistan’s U.S.-built weapons.

The parts were impounded under sanctions imposed after Pakistan tested a nuclear bomb in 1998.

“First of all, they have to give us all the export licenses to resume a normal relationship,” Mir said. … “Then [the U.S. must] meet some of the new requirements.”

Pakistan wants new, more modern F-16s and an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to provide all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, he said.

Mir also said Pakistan would like to round out its newly restored military relationship with the United States with cooperative training exercises and education exchanges, Mir said.

U.S. officials have praised the Pakistani participation in the U.S.-led campaign against Taliban and al Qaeda forces, and are working to release funds for the South Asian nation. But they have offered no public promises of arms.

“Pakistan has contributed invaluably to Operation Enduring Freedom, and the U.S.-Pakistani relationship has warmed greatly as a result,” Douglas Feith, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, said in a May 13 speech in Washington.

U.S. officials are hesitant about going further than that because of concerns about inflaming tensions between Pakistan and neighboring India, which have a long-standing territorial dispute over the mountain province of Kashmir.

Extending Support

Pakistan supports the effort by allowing U.S. forces to use airspace and air bases, providing logistical support, and exchanging intelligence and information. Pakistan’s air force all but vacated bases in Dalbandin, Shamsi, Jacobabad and Pasni to make room for U.S. aircraft, then beefed up security to protect them.

“We had to move a lot of people to safeguard bases where OEF forces are operating, [putting] a heavy economic drain on an already economically drained service,” Mir said. “We had to consume all our budget money. We have nothing [left], in fact. Maybe in most of the budget heads [accounts] we are overdrawn.”

Mir told reporters last month in Islamabad that Pakistan expects to receive $100 million in partial repayment.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to confirm the figure.

“The U.S. has agreed to reimburse the Pakistani government for select expenses they’ve incurred in their support of Operation Enduring Freedom,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said.

Other officials said the Pentagon is negotiating with Pakistan an agreement to simplify payment for goods and services, including food, fuel, transportation, ammunition, and equipment.

Seeking F-16s and AWACS

Pakistan’s Air Force, which currently flies a mix of French, Chinese and U.S.-made combat aircraft, including 32 F-16s (22 are F-16As; 10 are F-16Bs), would like to acquire 60 to 70 new fighters, said a senior Pakistani official who asked not to be named. F-16s are preferred over the other option Pakistan is considering, the French-made Mirage.

“But affording a Mirage 2000-V, which is three times the cost of an F-16, will be very, very expensive for a poor country like ours,” Mir said.

Pakistan last ordered F-16s in 1989, but Congress cancelled the delivery because of the South Asian nation’s nuclear-weapons program. In 1998, the Clinton administration settled the deal by refunding about two-thirds of Pakistan’s $658 million payment for 28 of the fighters.

Pakistan would also like to purchase a Western-built airborne warning and control system, perhaps from the United States or Sweden. AWACS would be “a very big force multiplier,” said Mir. Pakistan sought AWACS technology in the late 1980s and was rebuffed, he said.

Relationship Gone Bad

In the 1980s, the United States worked closely with Pakistan to aid Afghan rebels fighting Soviet forces then occupying Afghanistan. The end of the Cold War and suspicions in 1991 that Pakistan was developing nuclear weapons prompted the United States to suspend military cooperation; further U.S. sanctions were imposed after Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests. A third round of sanctions were imposed after Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s current leader, ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup.

But in the wake of Sept. 11, U.S. officials once again found themselves in dire need of allies on Afghanistan’s border. All sanctions were lifted Sept. 28 as the United States prepared for Operation Enduring Freedom.

Since then, U.S. and Pakistani troops have worked together almost continuously, and Washington has turned its attention to helping its partner out.

For starters, the Pentagon will renew military to military educational ties, spending $1 million per year to bring Pakistani officers to U.S. military officer schools.

In addition, the State Department is proposing $75 million in Foreign Military Financing to refurbish six C-130s, 10 upgraded Huey helicopters, 10 Cobra attack helicopters, spares for Pakistani F-16s, P-3 surveillance aircraft, Sea King and UH-1 helicopters.

U.S. State, Defense and Commerce departments are reviewing requests to release the parts.

“We’re looking at freeing up spares that had been in the pipeline but were subject to the embargo, but no new orders have come in,” said a U.S. government official.

Arms Approvals?

Delivering new weapons systems is the next phase of rebuilding the relationship. The F-16 purchase may get the nod, but few think the AWACS plane has a chance.

“I don’t think new F-16 sales would tip the balance in favor of Pakistan or reduce Indian superiority, but I think that superiority is exaggerated,” Stephen Cohen, South Asian military expert at the Brookings Institution, a Washington public policy think tank.

In New Delhi, another analyst offered an Indian perspective. “Pakistan will manage to get additional weaponry from the United States in return for its support of the United States-led military campaign against Afghanistan,” Semant Harish said May 17. “It is not very alarming sign for us [India] and when it comes to deal with Pakistan militarily; India is far stronger.”

But any formal proposal to buy AWACS will likely be dead on arrival on Capitol Hill.

“It was fairly clear then that there was no way on earth they were going to get AWACS from us,” said a defense analyst who reviewed the request as a U.S. government official in the 1980s. “I would think it’s a very slim chance the answer today would be different.”

Congressional Aides Agreed

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials are taking steps to keep allies from incurring out-of-pocket costs in future operations. Officials are seeking a $420 million discretionary fund to pay for fuel, security, construction materials and other logistics costs.Pakistan’s Mir hopes these developments mark the first steps toward restoring what he called the “whole relationship.” He’s upbeat, he said, because Pakistan’s requests are in good hands.

“In the discussions I’ve had with all the generals and with the secretary of defense, they are very supportive,” Mir said. “And they have assured us that they will try their best to meet our requests.”