Pakistan Air Force

Over the past decade, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has undergone a quite significant transformation with regard to the equipment that it operates. Gone are many of the Shenyang F-6s that once constituted the backbone of its air arm, their place having been taken by a mix of 'high tech' western warplanes like the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and less sophisticated hardware such as the Nanchang A-5-III Fantan and the Chengdu F-7P ‘Skybolt’. Valuable though this infusion of new equipment is, Pakistani air power is still in the unhappy position of being quantitatively inferior to neighbouring India, which is still perceived as posing the biggest threat to the nation's well-being.

Looking at the qualitative situation, the picture is hardly any brighter, especially now that the USA has opted to suspend Foreign Military Sales (FMS) assistance as an expression of its displeasure over Pakistan's nuclear power programme. That decision probably didn't come as too great a surprise to Pakistan but it is certainly a serious blow to PAF plans, for the service had anticipated taking delivery of a further 71 F-16s with effect from 1992. Now, unless there is a major change of American policy, these will not materialise and it is hardly surprising that there are some in the PAF who perceive the USA as being purely 'fair-weather friends'.

Pakistan's difficulties are compounded by the fact that it is far from being a wealthy country and is therefore not in a position to simply throw money at a problem until it goes away. Cash that is spent on defence could be employed equally well on a score of other projects so it is clearly a case of ensuring that whatever money is available is spent as wisely as possible and in a way that offers the best 'dividend'. That naturally exerts influence on procurement policy and the PAF is now well versed in steering a careful course between the super-sophisticated and highly desirable but inordinately expensive and the considerably less costly but much more numerous 'kits'.