U.S. Seeks Information On Pakistan’s Potential Misuse Of F-16s

The U.S. is seeking more information from Pakistan on the potential misuse of American-made F-16 fighter jets by it against India in violation of the end-user agreement, the State Department has said.

The Indian Air Force displayed parts of an AMRAAM (advanced medium-range air-to-air missile) as evidence to "conclusively" prove that Pakistan deployed U.S.-manufactured F-16 fighter jets during an aerial raid targeting Indian military installations in Kashmir after India's anti-terror operation in Balakot . Pakistan categorically said that no F-16 fighter jets were used and denied that one of its planes had been downed by the Indian Air Force.

"We are aware of these reports and are seeking more information," a State Department spokesperson told PTI when asked about a report that Pakistan has violated end-user agreement with the United States in this week's border clash with India.

"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 spokesperson told PTI.

The U.S., which is the largest seller of high-tech defence equipment globally, has a strong end-user monitoring agreement, and as a matter of practice takes all allegations of misuse of defence 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 with the U.S., Faulkner said. Publicly available documents reveal that U.S. has imposed nearly a dozen restriction on Pakistan related to its use of F-16.

During a Congressional hearing in July 2006, John Miller the then assistant secretary of state for Political Military Affairs, had told lawmakers that the United States has "very carefully considered" the potential risks of the diversion of U.S. technology and equipment.

" While the exact details of the restrictions were discussed in a closed-door session, and thus remains classified, Miller then broadly outlined some of the restrictions, which he said were over a "dozen new and unprecedented elements" of the security plan for Pakistan.

Miller then told lawmakers that the security provisions also include semi-annual inventories of all F-16 aircraft equipment and munitions, including related technical data, and more frequent inventories for other systems.

"There is a two-man rule, so to speak, for access to this equipment and restricted areas, and F-16 flights outside of Pakistan or participation in exercises and operations with third nations must be approved in advance by the United States government," the then top State Department official said, according to the transcripts of the hearing.