By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : The United States has resumed exports of fighter planes to Pakistan with two used F-16/B jets delivered in July and plans to donate another two dozen, according to Arms Control Today.
Pakistan will not pay for the used, older model F-16s, whose flying conditions vary, but will assume the costs for refurbishing and modernising them, the publication said citing a defence department spokesperson.
The donated planes are in addition to the sale of 18 new F-16C/D fighters for delivery in 2010 and upgrades for its current fleet of 34 F-16 combat aircraft as part of a deal announced in September last year.
The US government then cleared Islamabad for about $2.1 billion of new weapons, avionics, engines, and other equipment for F-16 fighters.
Pakistan is supposed to begin receiving the 18 new, top-of-the-line F-16C/Ds in three years and has the option to purchase 18 more.
Arms Control Today said neither US nor Pakistani officials in recent interviews would provide any details on the security arrangements that the Bush administration had assured Congress would be put in place for the sale to Pakistan.
These “security plans”, according to then assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs John Hillen, would include “a very enhanced end-use monitoring programme [and] semiannual inventories of all F-16 aircraft, equipment, and munitions, including related technical data”.
At a House panel hearing last year, lawmakers such as Republican chairperson Henry Hyde and ranking Democratic member Tom Lantos, who is currently chairperson, had expressed concerns about the potential for unauthorised dissemination of sensitive technologies and for modification of the F-16s to carry nuclear weapons.
“Broad speculation exists that Pakistan modified previously delivered US F-16s for nuclear delivery missions,” the publication said.
In late 2005, the United States donated two F-16/A fighters to Pakistan in the first transfer of fighter aircraft to that country since 1990. That year, President George H.W. Bush blocked arms sales to Pakistan because his administration would not certify under US law that Islamabad did not possess a nuclear device.
Seeking Pakistan’s allegiance after the Sep 11, 2001 attacks, President George W. Bush waived the prohibitions.
President Bush signed into law legislation that could block future F-16 transfers. The Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act prohibits the sale of military equipment to Pakistan if it is not “committed to eliminating the Taliban” within its borders.
However, the determination of whether Pakistan is progressing aggressively enough against the Taliban will be left up to the president, who has said he views Pakistan as a key ally.