Pak to get six more F-16 aircraft from US today

Pakistan will get six more new F-16 C/D Block 52 aircraft from the United States today.

Sources revealed that these six F-16 aircraft would bring the number of such fighter aircraft in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to 12, Geo News reported.

Pakistan will get six more jets this year, after which the PAF would have a total of 18 such aircraft, the sources added.

In 2005-06, Pakistan had signed a contract with the US government for the acquisition of 18 F-16 C/D Block 52 aircraft. Under this arrangement, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) would receive these state-of-the-art aircraft from the US in staggered batches.

While the first batch of three aircraft arrived in Pakistan in May 2010, and the second batch- of the same quantity- at the PAF Base in Shahbaz (Jacobabad) in October, the deliveries of the rest of the aircraft would be completed by December 2010.

The F-16 C/D aircraft is a high tech fighter aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art avionics suite and latest weapons with Night Precision Attack capability. These aircraft are part of the bid by the PAF to modernise and enhance its air defence capabilities.