If we get E-3Cs then the chances are our 4th Gen aircraft will be of US orgin, especially id the US wants us fully integrated with their forces

Its amazing how things have changed in just one month

PAF/PN/PA US aqquisitions

10 Orions
8 E2Cs
6 C-130s
40 AH-1s
40 UH-1s
26 Bell 412s
6 APG-77s
6 Areostat AEW
2000 TOW 2
6 Phalanax

F-16s?

The US it seems have been quite generous, this has lead to a quantum leap in Pakistani ariel surveillence and helicopter capability

Just an FYI;

HawKeyes and Erieyes are separate deals and its not either or. Most likely Erieyes are meant for PAF and hawkeyes will go to PN stationed at karachi and Gawadar base. Like it says in the article, USN is hopin to link up PN’s air surv. and recon. with theirs so their area of scope is smaller and they are freed to do other things. I would assume that this step is to keep an eye on Iranian navy. Pakistan this way will be able to keep an eyes on its both eastern and western flanks.

Mavaustin

I doubt that my friend, Erieye is for 7 planes and Hwakeye deal for 8. Are you suggesting Pakistan is in the market for 15 AWAC planes!!!!!!!!????????

Thats overkill, I think its a case of one or the other.

The good news is that this makes a deal for advanced F-16s extremly likely in the very near future

US has already supplied the Bosnian Army with 15 UH-1s free.
Go back and ask for two sqds of used F-16A ADFs

refurbish them and equip them with Aim 9Ls

Thats esswentially all you need to give your defence forces a basic air defence and ground attack capability

Thanks to the US you already have 15 UH-1s, so the training , infrastructure and pilots are there, ask for 15 more and form another sqd, then ask for 30 AH-1s and form two attack sqds to help the army, this will have the added benefit from some commonality with the UH-1s

so all in all you should have

2 sqds F-16s
2 sqds UH-1
2 sqds AH-1s

You should come in under the $1.7 Billion budget, with the rest of the cash, and assuming you like him, buy your Prez a BBJ!

(Updated at 2230 PST)
WASHINGTON: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said Saturday he discussed with US President George W. Bush a potential purchase of American F-16 fighter jets to upgrade the defense capability of his country.

“We discussed the F-16 issue,” Musharraf told reporters after his meeting with the US leader at the White House.

“That is all I would like to say, thank you,” he added in a terse comment when asked about the prospective US sale of the fighter jets.

He did not say whether any decision was made at the meeting. US officials were not immediately available for comment on the subject.

Pakistan reportedly wants to buy up to 25 of the F-16s, which cost around 25 million dollars each, by mid-2005 to add another squadron of such planes to the nuclear-armed nation’s existing fleet.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri had said earlier that President Musharraf would raise Pakistan’s defence needs when he met with Bush but the White House on Thursday downplayed any imminent F-16 deal at the summit talks.

Any defense sales to Pakistan will be watched closely by its arch nuclear rival India, which has reportedly expressed interest in buying the US Patriot missile system that can defend against ballistic and cruise missiles and aircraft.

Some critics in the South Asian nations have raised concerns that the potential arms sales could further fuel a regional arms race and political instability while the two rivals hold delicate peace talks to resolve the thorny Kashmir dispute.

Although regarded as a key US ally in the war on terror, Pakistan has a longstanding military rivalry with India, with which it has fought three wars since independence in 1947.

The US Senate late Saturday approved a 388-billion-dollar budget which includes military aid to Pakistan and its war-torn neighbour Afghanistan.

The allocation of 300 million dollars for Pakistan is to designed to bolster the capabilities of its armed forces in hunting down suspected Al-Qaeda members along the Afghan-Pakistani border.

The program is seen as a reward to Musharraf, who is risking domestic tensions by siding with the administration of President George W. Bush in its worldwide campaign against Islamic militants.

The military aid approval follows notification by US defense officials of a possible 1.3-billion-dollar arms package for Pakistan, a frontline fighter of the war on terror.

The package includes eight P-3C Orion planes to beef up surveillance of its coasts and borders to stop the movement of terrorists and drug smugglers, US defense officials had said.

It would be the largest US foreign military sale to Pakistan since sanctions against Islamabad were lifted in late 2001 as a reward for supporting US forces fighting Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan.

Dont misquote me

“will realise the platform is no longer the most important part of an air defence system”

Thats what I orginally wrote, I never said the platform does not matter.

rabbit, I was replying to a comment made by Thundaar “anyone who knows anything about aircraft will realise the platform is no longer the most important part of an air defence system, its what we put inside it. ”

which is the avionics, the radar and such stuff. Thundaar discounted the platform as being not so important. In which case, the Bison, which has a Kopyo radar that is definitely better than current Chinese radars, EW and counter-measures, Russian BVR missiles, and the Sura HMS with R-73 missiles (something that the FC-1 can’t boast of as of now), would stand up trumps against the Owlet Dragon 😀 .

PAF plans western avionics and radars for all its JF-17s, after the first batch, it has not decided on them yet, but as usual your claiming anything Indian is superior, yet no on knows the final avionics fit. Dont you realised how silly you look?

I also hate to break it to you that this is an Aviation Week article, an American publication. They were the 1st to report that the crash of Columbia was due to some fault on the left wing and they provided photos of the problem as it streaks across california. During the Vietnam War, they published a MiG-21 in USAF colors when its existence is top secret. And during the B-2 roll out ceremony, despite Northrop efforts to limit the view of the a/c to the front, the reporters flew a light plane over and obtain photographs showing the entire a/c.

Oh, Aviation Week’s nickname? Aviation Leak. 😀

This is relevent how!?