The Donald Trump administration has notified the US Congress that it has approved the sale of a $686 million package of hi-tech systems, such as an advanced communication system and avionics, for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet. The upgrade will extend the fleet’s life into 2040s.
The US Department of Defense has notified the Congress that President Donald Trump has approved the sale of a $686 million package for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet.
The package, which includes an advanced communication system and new avionics, will extend the life of Pakistan’s F-16 fleet into 2040s, according to the notification from Michael F Miller, the Director of Defense Department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), to Congress leadership.
In the notification, Miller said that the sale will support American foreign policy and national security objectives “by allowing Pakistan to retain interoperability with US and partner forces in ongoing counterterrorism efforts and in preparation for future contingency operations”.
The highlights of the deal will be 92 Link-16 communication systems and six Mk-82 inert 500-lb general purpose bomb bodies.
What’s Link-16 and how does it help Pakistan?
The Link-16 communication system is the main component of the $686 million deal.
Link-16’s primary application is in the domains of aerial warfare and missile defence command and control architecture. The system is at the core of American and Nato allies’ aerial warfare strategy — and Pakistan will now have access to the same system that many analysts call the best in the world.
Link-16 is an encrypted, jam-resistant tactical data link (TDL) network that allows real-time sharing of combat data, voice communications, imagery, and relative navigation information between military platforms in air, sea, and ground.
The Link-16 system allows the interconnection of fighter planes with airborne warning and control systems (Awacs), air defence units, ships, and ground radars into a unified common operating Picture (COP), which refers to a real-time digital representation of the battlefield. Once joined into COP via Link-16, all of these components can jointly identify threats, share targeting data, and coordinate engagement operations.
One major feature of Link-16 is ‘beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) engagement and launch-on-remote targeting’. Conventionally, a fighter plane must independently detect and then lock onto a target to take it down. With Link-16, one aircraft could do the detection and another could lock and attack the target. This increases synergy between various components like various fighter planes and surface-to-air units involved in the operation.
Such systems are the ’nervous system’ of kill chains in the kind of aerial warfare seen in May when India and Pakistan clashed during Operation Sindoor.
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