{"id":125,"date":"2025-12-12T17:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/?p=125"},"modified":"2025-12-12T17:40:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:40:00","slug":"is-trumps-686m-f-16-upgrade-for-pakistan-a-message-to-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socializenews.com\/?p=125","title":{"rendered":"Is Trump\u2019s $686m F-16 upgrade for Pakistan a message to India?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United States has approved the sale of advanced technology and upgrades for Pakistan\u2019s F-16 fighter planes worth approximately $686m.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The deal was struck amid simmering tensions between Pakistan and its neighbour, India, which engaged in a five-day war following a rebel attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in May this year. The US recently pressured Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to buy more weapons from it.<\/p>\n

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What has the US agreed with Pakistan?<\/h2>\n

Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that the latest approval is part of a 2022 maintenance deal the US agreed in 2022 to sustain Pakistan\u2019s fleet of F-16s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe F-16 deal remains a key part of the broader US-Pakistan bilateral relationship, which is why there has been continuity from President Biden to President Trump, despite some delays. Both sides emphasise the fleet\u2019s utility in joint counterterrorism operations in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest US deal is for the sale of technology, which will support and upgrade Pakistan\u2019s existing F-16 fleet. It was confirmed in a report sent to the US Congress by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on December 4.<\/p>\n

Pakistan is believed to have 70 to 80 working F-16s. Some of these are older, but upgraded, Block 15 models, some are former Jordanian F-16s, and some are newer Block 52+ models.<\/p>\n

The US offering comprises hardware and software updates for enhanced flight operations and aircraft electronic systems; the Advanced Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system, which allows pilots to identify friendly aircraft from enemy ones; navigation upgrades; spare parts and repairs.<\/p>\n

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Alongside $649m-worth of support and upgrades for the F-16s, the US sale also includes major defence equipment (MDE), which are items of significant military equipment on the US munitions list, worth $37m. This includes 92 Link-16 systems.<\/p>\n

The Link-16 is a secure military tactical data link network which allows real-time communication between military aircraft, ships and ground forces. It allows communication through text messages and images.<\/p>\n

Six Mk-82 inert 500-pound (226.8kg) general-purpose bomb bodies are another type of MDE authorised to be sold to Pakistan. These are empty metal casings of an Mk-82 bomb, which are used for training or testing.<\/p>\n

Instead of an explosive such as tritonal \u2013 a mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and aluminium powder used in munitions \u2013 the casing is filled with a heavy material such as concrete or sand. The Mk-82 is an unguided bomb developed by the US. It can also be used as a warhead for precision-guided munitions.<\/p>\n

What are F-16 fighters?<\/h2>\n

The F-16, also called the F-16 Fighting Falcon or the Viper, is a single-engine aircraft used for air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack by the US and its allies.<\/p>\n

The jets are currently manufactured by US defence and aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which took over production in 1995. It was originally developed by General Dynamics, a US industrial and technology company.<\/p>\n

The jet was developed towards the end of the war in Vietnam, during which the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) overwhelmed heavier and slower US fighter planes. It\u00a0first flew\u00a0in 1974.<\/p>\n

The F-16 is now one of the world\u2019s most widely used fighters. F-16s are operating in 29 countries, according to the Lockheed Martin website.<\/p>\n

Besides Pakistan, some other countries which have F-16s are Ukraine, Turkiye, Israel, Egypt, Poland, Greece, Taiwan, Chile, Singapore, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway.<\/p>\n

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F-16s perform aerobatic manoeuvres during a rehearsal for Pakistan Day parade, March 16, 2024 [Aamir Qureshi\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What role did F-16s play in the May conflict between India and Pakistan?<\/h2>\n

On April 22, armed attackers\u00a0killed 26 people in Pahalgam, a popular tourist spot in Indian-administered Kashmir. The attack was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a separatist group designated a terrorist organisation by India and the US, and which New Delhi alleges is linked to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) \u2013 a claim Islamabad denies.<\/p>\n

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Following the Pahalgam attack, New Delhi scaled back diplomatic ties with Islamabad and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, which ensures the appropriate sharing of the Indus River water between India and Pakistan.<\/p>\n

On May 7, India\u00a0struck nine sites in Pakistan\u00a0and Pakistan-administered Kashmir with missiles, which Islamabad said killed dozens of civilians. Over the following three days, the countries engaged in a heated aerial war, using drones and missiles to target each other\u2019s military bases.<\/p>\n

During the aerial war, Pakistan deployed 42 \u201chi-tech aircraft\u201d, including the F-16s, and Chinese-made JF-17s and J-10s, according to Pakistan\u2019s Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed.<\/p>\n

A ceasefire \u2013 for which US President Donald Trump took credit \u2013 was eventually brokered on May 10.<\/p>\n

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Is the US applying pressure to India?<\/h2>\n

Yes, for a couple of reasons.<\/p>\n

The US approval for Pakistan\u2019s F-16 upgrade comes as the Trump administration presses India to buy more weapons from it.<\/p>\n

In August, New Delhi put its plans to buy US weapons and aircraft on hold, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting three unnamed Indian officials familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

This came just weeks before Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had been scheduled to visit Washington to announce some weapon purchases. That visit was cancelled.<\/p>\n

India-US relations have also been tense in recent months.<\/p>\n

On August 6, Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on imports from India as a punishment for\u00a0buying cheap Russian crude oil. This was on top of the existing 25 percent tariff already levied on Indian goods, bringing the total levy on Indian imports to\u00a050 percent.<\/p>\n

Trump announced the tariff in an executive order, in which he wrote that Russia\u2019s continued military actions in Ukraine constituted a \u201cnational emergency\u201d and it was therefore \u201cnecessary and appropriate\u201d to place heightened tariffs on India, a top consumer of its crude oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

While pressure from the US has resulted in India slightly scaling back purchases of Russian oil, New Delhi plans to continue to buy from Moscow. It remains the second-largest consumer of Russian oil after China.<\/p>\n

President Vladimir Putin met Prime Minister Modi for the annual Russia-India\u00a0bilateral summit\u00a0in New Delhi last week, during which he said: \u201cRussia is ready for uninterrupted shipments of fuel to India.\u201d<\/p>\n

The announcement of the latest US deal to provide maintenance and upgrades for Pakistan\u2019s F-16s is likely to be poorly received by India.<\/p>\n

Donthi said New Delhi has previously opposed the defence cooperation between Pakistan and the US under which the two countries collaborate to maintain Pakistan\u2019s F-16 fleet. India has claimed the F-16s are used against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWashington pre-empted it this time by stating that the sale \u2018will not alter the basic military balance in the region\u2019,\u201d Donthi said.<\/p>\n

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst based in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t overstate the India angle here. Certainly one may look at this deal as the latest attempt by Washington to use its largesse to Pakistan as a pressure point to get India to make more concessions to the US in trade talks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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However, he added that the deal is one that \u201chas a logic of its own that\u2019s not tied to India\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is largely a standalone arrangement within a long\u2011running program to support Pakistan\u2019s US-made aircraft. It comes alongside continued, though less generous, US defence cooperation with India \u2013 reflecting two parallel tracks of security ties rather than a single India\u2011focused strategy, Kugelman explained.<\/p>\n

How much does the US sale strengthen Pakistan?<\/h2>\n

Kugelman said the package is significant. \u201cIt is one of the more generous security aid packages to Pakistan in recent years. Nearly $700 million is nothing to sneeze at.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deal is also significant for US-Pakistan relations as it signifies the importance the Trump administration places on counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical minerals and other commercial opportunities have drawn the most headlines in discussions about the resurgence in US-Pakistan ties. But counterterrorism collaborations, while modest in scope, are important for this administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Donthi pointed out that while the latest package from the US will help Pakistan maintain its fleet until 2040, it is China which has supplied more than 80 per cent of Pakistan\u2019s weapons since 2020.<\/p>\n

This statistic is also backed by Swedish think tank SIPRI in a report this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cPakistan used Chinese J-10 aircraft in the May conflict with India. Islamabad continues to balance between Washington and Beijing, benefiting from both,\u201d Donthi said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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