By IRNA,
Islamabad : First batch of latest version of U.S. fighter F-16 aircraft arrived at Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base in Sindh province, the PAF said.
The aircraft were ferried from the US to Pakistan by PAF pilots, who had recently completed training on the new aircraft in US, a PAF statement said.
Air Marshal Mohammad Hasan, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Operations), Air Marshal Waseem ud din, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (Administration), along with other senior PAF officials received the aircraft at the Base.
“Pakistan attaches great significance to its air defence needs, Pakistan had signed contract with the US Govt in year 2005-06 for the acquisition of 18 F-16 C/D Block 52 aircraft,” it said.
Under this arrangement, PAF would receive these state-of-the-art aircraft from the US Govt in different batches, the statement said.
The delivery of all 18 aircraft would complete by the end of this year.
The F-16 C/D Block 52 aircraft is a high tech fighter aircraft equipped with sophisticated state-of-the-art avionics suite, latest weapons with Night Precision Attack capability, the statement said.
These aircraft are much superior to the F-16A/Bs already in the inventory of the PAF, it added.