Pakistan gets new F16

Three F16 aircrafts provided by the US have formally been inducted into Pakistan Air Force (PAF) today in a ceremony at the Shahbaz Airbase. The three F-16s are part of a batch of 18 aircrafts to be given to the Pakistan Air Force by the end of the year. The ceremony was attended by Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, US Air Chief General Schwartz, US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson and other senior civil and military officials.Ambassador Anne Patterson said the US is increasing cooperation with Pakistan in the economic and energy sectors as well. She added that the induction of F-16s will strengthen Pakistans fight against militancy. In the second phase, five F-16 Block 52 C fighter jets would be given to Pakistan over a period of a month and a half. As per the contract, the PAF would receive these aircraft in several batches. The delivery of all 18 fighters would be completed by the end of this year, while the next five would be received in three weeks. The F-16s C/D Block 52 is a high tech fighter aircraft equipped with sophisticated state-of-the-art avionics suite and latest weapons with night precision attack capability.