Karachi:
A recently notified armament contract notified by the US Department of War (DOW), formerly Ministry of Defense, classifies Pakistan among advanced Air-Air missile buyers (AMRAAM) AIM-20, it was revealed on Tuesday.
Thanks to this, the Pakistani Air Force approaches the reception of additional stocks of missiles under the administration of US President Donald Trump.
According to the American DOW, Raytheon-the manufacturer of AMRAAM-obtained a modification of more than $ 41.6 million on a “previously awarded contract (FA8675-23-C-0037)” on the basis of a “firm price (P00026)” for the production of C8 and D3 variants of the missile.
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The modification, which includes Pakistan among its beneficiaries of military sales abroad, brings the total value of the contract to more than $ 2.51 billion.
“This contract concerns foreign military sales in the United Kingdom, Poland, Pakistan, Germany, Finland, Australia, Romania, Qatar, Oman, Korea, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Singapore, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Japan, Slovakia, Denmark, Canada, Belgium Bahrain, in Saudi Arabia, Italy, Norway, Spain, Kuwait, Finland, Sweden, Taiwan, Lithuania, Israel, Bulgaria, Hungary and Türkiye, “said the notification. He adds that work on the order should be completed by the end of May 2030.
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Although it remains difficult to know exactly how many new Amraam missiles will be delivered to Pakistan, if necessary, this development has triggered speculation on possible improvements in the F-16 fleet of the Pakistani Air Force.
In PAF service, AMRAAM is compatible exclusively with the F-16 fighting aircraft and was used to shoot the MIG-21 of the Indian Air Force managed by the Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman during the Swift Retort operation in February 2019. In particular, the PAF air staff chief, the marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar, went to the American State Department July this year.
Depending on the defense publication QUWA, AIM-15C8 is the export version of AIM-2010D, the main variant of AMRAAM in service in the United States. The PAF currently operates the old C5 variant, 500 of which were acquired alongside its last block 52 F-16 in 2010.
