Four more F-16s to join PAF soon

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  KAMRA: Four more F-16 fighter aircraft will join the Pakistan Air Force on July 28, 2008. For this purpose, a ceremony for handing over of the planes to the Pakistan Air Force will be held at the PAF Base Mushaf on Saturday.

The four F-16 planes, which are going to be handed over to Pakistan in the last week of the current month, have been upgraded and modified to the extent that they will perform just like new F-16s.

Last month, the Deputy Chief of Air Staff (Operations), Air Marshal Rao Qamar Suleiman, had received four Fighting Falcons from Lt Gen Gary L North, Commander 9th Air Force, and the USAF Central Command while four were received last year. These refurbished F-16s have the same operational capability as of those already possessed by the PAF and will significantly augment its combat capability.

Meanwhile, state-of-the-art JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft will be inducted as regular squadron of the Pakistan Air Force by the end of the current year. The small batch production of the JF-17 Thunder multi-role aircraft is in progress both in China and the Kamra Aeronautical Complex. Pakistan Air Force is in the process of completing the testing and evaluation of aircraft jointly produced by Pakistan and China. After completion of the evaluation, the new aircraft will be certified by international monitors to become operational in the air forces of the world.

Serial production of the JF-17 Thunder will also start in Pakistan soon. In the first phase 40%, in the second 60%, in the third phase 80% and in the last phase 100% JF-17 Thunder warplanes will be built at the Kamra Aeronautical Complex. Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanveer Mehmood, is personally supervising the task of inducting new platforms in the PAF.

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