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White House pushes for Bahrain F-16 deal

Reuters reports that the White House has informed Congress of a proposed U.S. $5 billion sale of 19 new-built Lockheed Martin F-16s – along with spare engines, munitions and other equipment – to Bahrain.

The previous administration had proposed the sale in September, but withdrew it because it was not convinced that Bahrain made the requisite improvements in its respect for human rights.

The White House and State Department have apparently removed that condition.

Although Lockheed Martin did not comment on this recent news, the company did express its hopes for securing a new Bahrain sale during IDEX 2017, which took place in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in February. Prior to that, Bloomberg reported that Bahrain requested 19 F-16V – re-designated Block-70 – for $2.8 billion and upgrade kits, valued at $1 billion, for its existing F-16 fleet.

The F-16 Block-70 is configured with the AN/APG-83 active electronically-scanned array radar, new Center Pedestal Display (CPD), updated avionics suite – including a new modular mission computer – to manage the F-16V’s sensors, and compatibility with the Lockheed Martin Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod and Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System. The F-16V retains the Block-50/52’s airframe design and engine options.

On March 23, Lockheed Martin announced that it will move its F-16 manufacturing line from Fort Worth, Texas, to Greenville, South Carolina. Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility will transition to manufacturing F-35 Lightning IIs. As per Lockheed Martin, it will take Greenville two years to begin manufacturing F-16s. It appears that Bahrain’s F-16s would be built at Greenville, which would set a lead-time of at least three or four years before Bahrain receives its first new aircraft.

Recently, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) stated that it was still engaged with the U.S. on the matter of buying F-16s. A proposed sale of eight new-built F-16C/D Block-52+ aircraft to Pakistan fell through following Congress’ refusal to release Foreign Military Financing (FMF) support, which would have partly subsidized the sale. Despite that, the PAF Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Sohail Aman said that he was confident that a mutually workable agreement for both countries would come to pass, not just for those eight F-16s, but also additional fighters.

Update (31/03/2017): The Bahraini request reportedly does not include upgrade kits for its existing F-16s. The value of the revised deal is set at $2.7 billion (Bloomberg).

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Bilal Khan Founder
Founder of Quwa, Bilal has been researching Pakistani defence industry and security issues for over 15 years. His work has been cited by Pakistan's National Defence University (NDU), the Council of Foreign Relations, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Centre of Airpower Studies and many others. He has a Hons. B.A in Political Science and Masters of Interntional Public Policy from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
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11 Comments

  • by Shershahsuri
    Posted March 30, 2017 7:19 am 0Likes

    It means even if Pakistan signs a deal for more F-16s, it will take more than five years the deal to materialize. But how many ups and downs come in the US Pak relations in these fives years not known.

  • by SP
    Posted March 30, 2017 9:49 am 0Likes

    €5 billion for 19 aircrafts? Would have been better for them to go for FC-31 or Pak Fa or F35.

  • by Zill e Hussnain
    Posted March 30, 2017 1:36 pm 0Likes

    business baby business, it is a capital invest to secure the political objectives

  • by Sami Shahid
    Posted March 30, 2017 3:16 pm 0Likes

    Pakistan should look for some other Air craft but if it still wants F-16 then it should just pay and get it !

  • by Vap
    Posted March 31, 2017 3:34 am 0Likes

    Go for F-16V otherwise don’t need to go after toys that come with strings attached. Unfortunately PAF doesn’t have any leverage where it can even discuss the possibility of F-16 V/

  • by nob hamid gul
    Posted March 31, 2017 4:33 am 0Likes

    You need to review Iraq.
    And i don’t think Iran will be able to win any war against Arab. Iran has no air power.

  • by Ezaz
    Posted April 1, 2017 5:26 am 0Likes

    I respect your Arab love ,
    but as far as Iraqis are concerned you have to accept they fight much better than other countries nearby & and they are recovering rapidly.

  • by Quraishi
    Posted April 1, 2017 6:23 am 0Likes

    Why is Pakistan going for an older version 52+ :s
    Doesnt make sense,
    Even a small country such as Bahrain has more brains, no need to get an older version.

    One thing Pakistani people greatly miss in assessing threats is the very serious threat from Iran.

  • by omer
    Posted April 1, 2017 3:18 pm 0Likes

    no need for new f-16’s put that effort time and money into jf-17 at least its our own and we can mould it as we wish

  • by Ezaz
    Posted April 2, 2017 12:35 am 0Likes

    Top 10 fighter jets –
    1- T-50
    2- J-20
    3- Eurofighter
    4- F-22
    5- Rafael
    6- Su-35
    7- F-35
    8- Su-30
    9- F-16
    10- Mig-35

  • by jamshed_kharian_pak
    Posted April 4, 2017 12:12 am 0Likes

    @Ezaz & @nhg IR Iran is the most powerful Muslim country in the ME without their agreement you can’t even enter in the ME!

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