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The U.S. Department of Defense is attempting to sell eight F-16s to Pakistan in a deal disputed by U.S. lawmakers as well as India:
On Friday evening, the United States decided to push ahead with the sale and delivery of eight U.S.-made F-16 Block-52 fighters to Pakistan in a deal valued at $699 million. The U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified U.S. lawmakers about the deal. The DSCA's approval comes days after Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concern to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the Obama administration should withhold such a deal due to concerns that Pakistan was insufficiently targeting militant groups hostile to the United States, specifically the Haqqani Network*. U.S. legislators have a 30 day period to review and potentially block the sale. Corker's hold on the funding could end the deal unless Pakistan manages to find an alternate way to finance the purchase.
"We support the proposed sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan, which we view as the right platform to in support of Pakistan's counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations," a DSCA official told Defense News . In addition to eight F-16 Block 52 fighters, the deal will include increased performance engines, advanced radars, electronic warfare equipment, and spare and repair parts. In its official notice, the DSCA noted that the "proposed sale contributes to U.S. foreign policy objectives and national security goals by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner in South Asia." Between 2002 and 2014, the United States sold $5.4 billion in defense equipment to Pakistan.
[...] Progress on this deal has thrust the U.S.-Pakistan relationship back into the limelight, highlighting concerns of Pakistan's complicated status as a U.S. ally. Additionally, the deal has drawn concern and criticism from the Indian government, which is increasingly partnering with the United States itself on defense cooperation. [...] New Delhi's concern is that the F-16 aircraft will be diverted away from counter-terrorism purposes and toward striking India in any future skirmish between the two countries. The DSCA, in its notification to Congress, assess that "The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region."
*The Haqqani network were the militants holding Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl captive. The group has close ties to Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday February 16 2016, @03:23PM
Already seen it, but I think the "military industrial complex two step" is a little less "subtle" for lack of a better word and they have been doing it since the end of WWII. Hell if they didn't sell advanced tech to enemies, how would they force the American people to pay for new shitty planes and tanks and missiles at crazy mark up? After all if they didn't let everything from Stingers to F16s end up in enemy hands all the USA would be facing is Soviet era shit that an F15 from 1985 could dominate, we can't have that now can we?
This is one thing we frankly should give the soviets credit for as they were NEVER that fucking stupid. If you look at the tanks and planes they sold places like Iran? They were all of them, down to the last, the "M" series export models...know what the "M" stood for? Monkey Models, as in "we don't trust these shit flinging monkeys with anything good" so they stripped everything state of the art and replaced it with obsolete tech. For just one example the T72M didn't have a guidance computer, didn't have ATGM launch capability, and had the state of the art night vision replaced with the one from the T55, which was 20 years out of date. The Soviets never had to worry about their own weapons being used against them because what they sold was cheap knock offs of the real thing.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.