Pakistan Air Force Receives Jordanian F-16 Fighter Jets

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has acquired a squadron of five F-16 A/Bs from the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), a senior PAF service official was quoted as saying by IHS Janes on 19 November.

The additional F-16s will be used to supplement the existing F-16 fleet and will be used in counterinsurgency operations along the country’s border with Afghanistan, the officer said.

The F-16s procured are comparable to the existing F-16 Block 52 variants, and should be able to operate with the rest of the PAF’s F-16 inventory without issue. Pakistan will be soon getting another eight aircraft bringing the total number of aircraft in this transfer to the allocated 13.

PAF is looking to replace its large inventory of Chinese F-7 and French Mirage III/V fighter aircrafts. With USA sponsored EDA there is good possibility that PAF might receive more surplus USAF F-16. PAF still has 15 MLU kits available.

Pakistan is looking at two other countries to procure more F-16s. The discussions with these countries are still underway.    

The PAF has approximately doubled the number of F-16s in service since 2005, and once this transfer is complete it should have 76 in service. The PAF has the infrastructure in place to operate a fleet of approximately one hundred F-16s however, and further surplus F-16 acquisitions are to be expected.