US comes hard on Pakistani misuse of American-made F-16 against India

NewsBharati    02-Mar-2019
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Washington, March 2: The United States is seeking information on the potential misuse of American-made F-16 fighter jets by Pakistan against India in violation of the end-user agreement. The State Department said that it is aware of the reports and is seeking more information on whether there has been any violation by Pakistan to the F-16 end-user agreement it signed by the United States.


 

The Indian Air Force, on Thursday, displayed parts of an AMRAAM beyond visual range air-to-air missile as evidence to prove that Pakistan deployed F-16 fighter jets during an aerial raid targeting Indian military installations in Kashmir. Pakistan, however, denied the usage of the fighter aircraft.

According to Pentagon's Defense Security and Cooperation Agency, F-16 jets were meant to be used to enhance Pakistan's ability to conduct counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.

 

Due to non-disclosure agreements in Foreign Military Sales contracts, we cannot discuss the specifics of end user-agreements contained within," Lt Col Kone Faulkner, a Defense Department said.

The United States, which is the largest seller of high-tech defence equipment globally, and has a strong end-user monitoring agreement, as a matter of practice takes all allegations of misuse of defense articles very seriously.

But before making any judgement or arriving at any conclusion, it needs to establish some facts on the ground, if there has been any violation by Pakistan to the F-16 end-user agreement it signed by the United States.