September 3, 2003 at 11:06 pm
This was pointed out by Soc’s in the FC-1 thread and poses some very interesting questions.
According to http://www.f-16.net:
http://www.f-16.net/reference/users/f16_pk.html
The Pakistan Air Force currently has the Block 15S F-16A/B model in operation, which has an upgraded APG-66 radar that brings it close to the MLU (Mid-life Update) radar technology. The main advantage is the ability to use the AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles if they were ever to be released to the PAF.
We know that the PAF has not accepted the F-8IIM in the mid nineties and and had forced a delay in the Super 7 project by asking for numerous changes even though it had left them at an obvious disadvantage to the IAF by not having a bvr response to the R-27 capable Mig-29s and Su-30Ks.
I had always thought the PAF is willing to live with an opponet with SARH ability since semi-active radar homers which require the pilot to maintain lock until the missile hits has highly unsuccessful.
But perhaps the reason is that PAF already has a bvr option in the F-16 block 15S?
There are never any confirmed reports of AIM-7s actually being in Pakistan.
So the other things we can discuss is the possibility of pairing a SD-10 or PL-11 with the APG-66.
If the PL-11 or even SD-10 works well with the FC-1, either can be worked on and transferred to the F-16 if the http://www.f-16.net information is correct.