Friday, April 15 2005 13:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan has asked the US to supply F-16 fighter jets capable of firing medium range air-to-air missiles and sought their expeditious delivery along with several other high-tech military equipment.

"Early delivery of Hi-Tech F-16 Aircraft capable to firing AMRAAM Missiles, C-130 Aircraft, AIM-9-M Missiles, TOW-II Missiles, Howitzer 155- MM and TPS-77 Radars need to be expedited," Pakistan's Secretary Defence Production, General (retd) Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai told a five-member visiting US Defence delegation yesterday (Apr 14, 2005).

Islamabad has sought F-16 models capable of firing medium range air-to-air Beyond Visual Ranger (BVR) AMRAAM Missiles from the US.

The visit of the American delegation led by Lt General Jeffrey B Kohler, Director of Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), came a day after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Pakistan during which he held talks with President Pervez Musharraf on a host of issues including, the US sale of F-16s.

Defence analysts in Islamabad attach significance to Pakistan seeking F-16s with AMRAAM Missile capability as the missile system is considered to be medium BVR category with ability to hit a target beyond 60 km range. BVRs are considered to be most advanced missiles, which Pakistan Air Force (PAF) so far does not have and is trying to acquire.

It was, however, not clear whether the sale of F-16s with capability to fire AMRAAM missiles would also include the supply of the missiles themselves. US initially proposed to sell 24 F-16s, each costing around $ 40 million and PAF wanted to buy 70 planes.