ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s air chief marshal Sohail Aman on Monday said that the country was in negotiations with the US to procure the latest F-16 fighter jets and by 2020 it will phase out some of its old combat aircraft, including Mirage.
“We are in talks with US defence officials to get some latest F-16s but the deal may take some time,” the Air chief told reporters after the rolling out ceremony of the 16th JF-17 Thunder aircraft at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra near Islamabad.
Aman, however, did not specify the number of aircraft which Pakistan is keen to procure from the US.
The new F-16s would add to Pakistan’s sizeable force of fighter jets which include more than 70 F-16s and dozens of French and Chinese attack aircraft.
Pakistan already have several F-16s which US provided over years since the two countries entered into a deal in the 1980s to equip Pakistan with the state-of-the-art aircraft.
JF-Thunder is the latest entry into the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and is replacing the aging Mirage.
The latest models of the JF-Thunder jets, which are locally produced in cooperation with China, are lightweight multi-role aircraft capable of Mach 2.0 (twice the speed of sound) with an operational ceiling of 55,000 feet.
The Air chief also said that by the year 2020, PAF will say “goodbye to some of its old fighter jets, including the Mirage”.
