The US Air Force has announced a major contract worth $488 million to provide long-term technical and engineering support to the radar systems of F-16 fighter jets. The special thing about this deal is that Pakistan is also included in it. This is being seen as America’s long-term strategy to keep the air forces of its allies strong.

This important defense contract has been given to the leading American company Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation. Its purpose is to maintain the operational preparedness of F-16 aircraft of allied countries for a long time. According to official information, under this contract, engineering and technical support will be provided to the ‘APG-66’ and ‘APG-68’ radar systems used in F-16 fighter jets, which will improve their capability and performance.

Upgrade and support work will continue till 2036

Under this project, upgrade and technical support work will be done in Linthium Heights, Maryland, USA. This program is going to continue till 31 March 2036. This contract has been issued by the Lifecycle Management Center (Utah) of the US Air Force. For this, initially $2.64 million has been released from the fund of financial year 2026. This deal has been done under America’s ‘Foreign Military Sales’ (FMS) program. Apart from Pakistan, it also includes Bahrain, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, South Korea, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Thailand and Turkey.

The lifespan of Pakistan’s F-16 will increase by 2040.

This new contract is part of the American cooperation being given to Pakistan. Earlier in December 2025, America’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) had informed about an upgrade package of $686 million for Pakistan’s F-16 fleet. This package includes ‘Link-16’ tactical data system, cryptographic equipment, avionics upgrades and training support. Apart from this, improvements are also being made in ‘identification friend-or-foe’ system, accurate navigation tools and secure communication devices.

Focus on modernization and interoperability

According to DSCA, the purpose of this upgrade is to modernize Pakistan’s F-16 aircraft, so that their service life can be extended till 2040. Besides, its objective is also to establish better coordination (interoperability) with America and other allied countries in anti-terrorism operations. Lockheed Martin was chosen as the main contractor for this upgrade program. American officials had made it clear that there would be no need to send American personnel to Pakistan for this work.

Pakistan welcomed

According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan has welcomed the continuous support from America for its F-16 program. Sources said that these upgrades will increase the lifespan of the aircraft and improve technical coordination with other systems. According to sources, Pakistan Air Force has included many new options in its fleet in recent years, thereby reducing dependence on any one platform. Nevertheless, it considers it extremely important to maintain its existing F-16 capabilities.

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US President Donald Trump has announced that on September 25, he will host Turki President Recep Tayip Erdogan at the White House. This journey is considered special because it will be Erdogan’s first official bilateral journey after 2019. Recently, the two leaders met in New York at the United Nations General Assembly and this Washington talks are considered to be the next step of the same.

The biggest controversy between the US and the Turki is with the F-35 fighter jet program. In 2019, the Turki bought the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, after which the US excluded Turkes from the F-35 program citing security reasons. Despite this, the Turki has been continuously expressing a desire to return to this program. Experts believe that this time also there will be no major progress on F-35. Defense expert Professor James A. Russell says that focusing on F-16 for Turki is a more practical option as F-35 is the most expensive and disputed project in American military history.

How are the relationship between America and Turki?

An important agenda of this meeting will also be business. There was a time when the Turki was considered to be the most important regional ally in America, but now the atmosphere has changed. The influence of America is decreasing in the Middle East, while the Turki is no longer dependent on Western countries but is also having a strong relationship with Russia and other countries. Erdogan’s strategy is to balance both America and Russia. Professor Russell believes that Erdogan will try to please Trump through economic agreements, but at the strategic level, the US-Turkio relations are no longer the same.

Erdogan has gone to make himself a Khalifa!

The importance of Turki is not limited to military deals only. President Erdogan has openly questioned Israel’s action in Gaza and US policy many times. This indicates that the Turkas want to install themselves as a regional intermediary. Criticism will also remain under the backdrop of this journey supply of US weapons and financial assistance to Israel.

Future direction
This meeting can lead to many possible results. The biggest step can be of progress on the F-16 deal, where America may agree to supply modern F-16 aircraft to Turkas. Along with this, Boeing aircraft procurement and other economic agreements will also be on the agenda. At the political level, the Turkas will try to strengthen themselves as a regional force, keeping the balance between the US and Russia.

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