Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday conveyed to US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin India's concerns over Washington's decision to provide sustenance package for Pakistan's F-16 fighter jet fleet.
The MiG-21 episode demonstrates that procurement is always strategic.
Choices about what aircraft to acquire, who builds them, who supplies the spares, who trains the pilots and technicians are decisions with political consequences lasting for decades.
Group Captain Murli Menon (retd) reveals how India can neutralise the Pakistan air force's combat capabilities without firing a shot.
India and the US on Wednesday marked their maiden space collaboration with the successful flight of a GSLV rocket that placed an earth observation satellite, jointly developed by the two space agencies, in a precise orbit.
"Whether it was F-16 or JF-17 which shot down 2 Indian aircraft is immaterial," Pak military spokesman said.
The United States, which is the largest seller of high-tech defence equipment globally, has a strong end-user monitoring agreement, and as a matter of practice takes all allegations of misuse of defence articles very seriously.
It said Pakistan does not have any other fighters capable of firing an AMRAAM missile.
Sections in the US State Department and Pentagon have always felt more comfortable dealing with all powerful Pakistani generals instead of elected civilians, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Sale of fighter aircraft will harm Indo-US relations, says IAFPE.
The new F-16 D Block 52 jet and two F-16 Block 15 jets that had undergone a mid-life upgrade arrived at the Shahbaz airbase from the US, a Pakistan Air Force spokesman said.
India said evidence on the use of F-16 fighter jets by Pakistan is there in the form of parts of AMRAAM missile recovered from the site, which is carried only by F-16 aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force.
The incident was reported when Pakistan airspace was not closed for India.
'New Delhi is not naive about its foreign policy choices.'
India had claimed that Pak deployed US-manufactured F-16 jets to target Indian military installations.
China's official media on Sunday criticised United States bomb attacks on Iranian nuclear sites as a further step toward the abyss, while experts in Beijing said the American bunker-buster bombs used in strikes may not be enough to destroy Iran's nuclear plants hidden deep underground.
This was disclosed by Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in an interview to arabic daily Okaz published on Saturday.
Pakistan has received the first three upgraded F-16 fighter aircrafts with an official saying the aircraft could be used to deal with "all internal and external threats". An official spokesman claimed Pakistan would be the only country besides Israel to get the latest version of the F-16, reflecting the strategic relations between Islamabad and Washington.
Pakistan, which is expected to get the first delivery of two F-16 fighters by the year-end, has said that it was negotiating with the US for 75 more aircraft.
The tri-services chiefs while addressing the media also said that the forces were in a state of heightened readiness to deal with any eventuality.
Aziz said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of incidents of WikiLeaks, Raymond Davis, Abbottabad operation, Datta Khel and Salala.
Defence Minister Chaudry Ahmad Mukhtar, a close aide of President Asif Ali Zardari, informed US Ambassador Anne Patterson about the defence requirements of Pakistan, particularly the provision of F-16 aircraft.
The Chinese see no need to fight directly. They have an able and willing proxy in Pakistan, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'All the government and private offices are functioning.' 'Overall, life is continuing normally.' 'People of Iran are showing spirit and resilience in the face of adversity.'
Sources added that Commanding Officer of Pakistan's 7 Northern Light Infantry inspected the site along with other officials.
Pakistan was expected to buy 75 F-16s from the US in a multi-billion dollar deal.
"For several months, we've been working with President (Donald) Trump's transition and governance teams and leaders in Congress providing information on our many programmes and potential business opportunities-including the proposed sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to India," a Lockheed official said.
A team of American defence experts is expected to be in Islamabad shortly to discuss the modalities of the sale of\nthe fighter aircraft.
The Barack Obama Administration's decision to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan should not be a cause of concern for India as the regional security situation was taken into account at the time of sale, the Pentagon has said.
Pakistan will explore other options to meet its defence needs if the deal for F-16s did not materialise with the United States, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday said
Opposition parties like PPP and human rights groups have criticised the government for going ahead with the F-16 dead as also the one billion dollar deal to buy Swedish Erie Eye SAAB airborne radars.
The F-16s are built by Lockheed Martin. Earlier, Lockheed had offered to build "exclusive" F-16 fighters for the Indian Air Force.
The main focus of the all weather RISAT-1B satellite will be to observe the Indian land with its C-band synthetic aperture radar.
The move has now been stalled as lawmakers raised questions about the end use of the combat aircraft.
'Even known names and social media handles went berserk by stating that Karachi has been attacked and an F-16 was shot down.'
With regard to the sale of the new 18 F-16's that Pakistan has requested -- the C/D block 50/52s combat aircraft, he said, "We have not come to a final decision on how to proceed with this, and I know your body is looking at it very carefully," Holbrooke told Congressman Gary Ackerman, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South Asia.
They have also urged the Obama administration to review its decision in this regard.
Pakistan is trying to get more F-16s from the US as well as looking towards countries like Russia and France for new aircraft to replace old ones to match India's defence purchases.
NISAR will not be used for surveillance and will be used to observe the earth.
Pakistan has reduced the number of nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets it planned to buy from the United States, from 36 to 18, due to financial constraints.The 36 new F-16 block 50/52 jets were to have cost Pakistan three billion dollars and the weapon systems an additional 650 million dollars. The new Pakistan government is currently facing a major financial crunch due to rising global oil prices and inflation.
