MEA sources say US likely to initiate a probe against Pak on use of F-16

The Indian government has displayed the wreckage of missile AIM-120C-5 AMRAAM which was shot by Pakistani Air Force using F-16 fighter aircraft. The US authorities could start an investigation in the matter very soon and this would big blow to Pakistan. Earlier the hostile neighbor has claimed that the wreckage is part of a missile sold to Taiwan by the United States. The Express Tribune, the Pakistani newspaper which reported the claims of Pakistan has linked the missile to 2.38 billion dollar arms deal between the US and Taiwan. However, Taiwanese authorities denied all the claims of Pakistan and said that the wreckage did not match to the assortment of Taiwan. “Taiwan getting hit by a bullet while lying down,” said the Taiwanese media. In addition to that Taiwan or Republic of China has only cultural and business ties with India.

In the early 1980s, the United States agreed to sell Pakistan F-16 fighter jets. This decision was taken when the United States worked closely with Pakistan to repel the Soviets from Afghanistan. The F-16 was the most important air platform in Pakistan’s air force and it was the most likely delivery vehicle of a nuclear weapon. However, when nuclear proliferation-related sanctions (under the Pressler Amendment) came into force in 1990, the U.S. government cancelled the sales of several F-16s. Under the terms of the American cancellation, the US kept both the money and the planes, leading to angry claims of theft by Pakistanis. Islamabad had been pushing to resume its purchases of the United States’ advanced F-16 fighter jets ever since 1990. Forced to pay for storage fees as the unused F-16s collected dust in a boneyard in the Arizona desert, the Pakistanis were incensed.

After 9/11, Pakistan upped its advocacy campaign and convinced the George W Bush administration to sell them the fighter jets, to “exorcise the bitter pill of the Pressler Amendment” and to forge new relations with Islamabad. The United States determined it was critical to placate Islamabad in order to get its cooperation in the war against the terrorists. Moreover, Pakistan officially abandoned support for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and joins the US-led war on terrorism. Consequently, the Bush administration announced in 2005 its intent to once again sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. The Indian government immediately and publicly protested both the sale and the subsidy. India’s leaders recognised the jets for what they were: a nuclear-capable force projection that could be used against them. India’s efforts did not achieve the desired result but it did remove the subsidized rates at which Pakistan was getting the F-16 planes. Moreover, the USA was forced to enter into an end-user agreement with them which limited their role. On 7 May 2015, according to an internal report prepared by Congressional Research Service, Pakistan has made full payment from its national funds towards the purchase of 18 new F-16C/D Fighting Falcon Block 52 combat aircraft worth US$1.43 billion. 

The F-16 fighter jets were top of the class, highly maneuverable, supersonic and multi-role tactical fighter aircraft. They use advanced aerodynamics and avionics to achieve enhanced performance. The jets were only to be used in cases against terrorism, aimed at the self-defence, as per the end user agreement between Pakistan and USA. Perhaps Pakistan misinterpreted the terms and instead believed they were supposed to use the jets for terrorism instead of against terrorism.

On one hand, Pakistan is claiming to only want to “demonstrate” something to India, while on the other hand they are blatantly accepting the use and claiming overtly to use their jets for their own personal vendettas. Pakistan, squirming like a fish, is getting into deeper conflict with each statement and irrespective of whatever they claim, the fact remains that the F-16 end-user agreement with the US has been breached. Unfortunately for Pakistan, the United States, which is the largest seller of high-tech defence equipment globally, and comply with a strong end-user monitoring agreement, takes all allegations of misuse of defense articles very seriously. Accounting the publicly available documents, it could be drawn that the US has in past also imposed over a dozen restriction on Pakistan related to its use of F-16. This violation of end user agreement can have severe consequences for Pakistan as the US could demand grounding of F-16 jets in response to the breach. Pakistan by their pompous display of faux bravado has not only lost an F-16 but also might lose their entire fleet of F-16 jets.