Spurned by US, Pakistan mulls buying used F-­16 jets from Jordan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is considering buying used F-16 fighter jets from Jordan, media reported on Tuesday, after a plan to buy eight of the aircraft from the United

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is considering buying used F-16 fighter jets from Jordan, media reported on Tuesday, after a plan to buy eight of the aircraft from the United States fell through because of the refusal of the US Congress to finance the deal.

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Some of Pakistan’ s fleet of F-16 jets are due to be decommissioned in the next few years and the government says it needs the aircraft to fight Islamist militants in remote mountains near Afghanistan.

The military also sees the aircraft as vital in case of war against old rival India.

“We are now going for a third-party transfer of F-16s and have an offer from Jordan,” defence secretary Alam Khattak told a joint sitting of the Senate defence and foreign affairs committees on Monday, newspapers reported. An air force spokesman declined to say how many F-16s Pakistan has but the number of the aircraft in service is believed to be about 70.

Jordan had offered to sell Pakistan 16 used F-16s of the Block-30 variant, an older version than the Block-52s that Pakistan would have obtained from the United States, the Dawn newspaper reported.