Pakistan says US has agreed to refurbish its F-16 fleet [View All]

Pakistan says US has agreed to refurbish its F-16 fleet
(AFP)

1 October 2003



ISLAMABAD - The United States has agreed to modernise Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets and provide fresh military hardware to help in the pursuit of Taleban and Al Qaeda fugitives, Pakistan’s top defence bureaucrat was quoted saying on Wednesday.


“In addition to providing us modern equipment, the US would also modernize and refurbish our existing fleet of F-16 aircraft,” defence secretary Hamid Nawaz Khan said according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

However the US made no promise to sell additional F-16s to its key war on terror ally, a move Pakistan has been seeking ever since the lifting of military sanctions which had prevented the handover of 28 F-16s it purchased in the late 1980s.

Khan was speaking on the outcome of September 15 to 18 talks between Pakistan and US defence officials in Washington, at which Pakistan presented a list of military equipment needed to curb alleged Taleban infiltrators on its western border with Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has handed over a list of modern equipment required by our three forces including, army, navy and air force,” he said, without specifying the equipment. (snip/...)

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