Pakistan seeks as many as 75 new F-16 warplanes

WASHINGTON, Thursday (Reuters) - Pakistan has asked about buying as many as 75 new F-16C/D Falcon fighter aircraft since the Bush administration announced it would resume sales, the head of the Pentagon agency handling the matter said on Wednesday.

Pakistan also has asked about buying 11 used F-16s, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which runs U.S. government-to-government arms sales.

Many experts had expected Pakistan to seek only about two dozen F-16s, said Richard Aboulafia of Teal Group, a Virginia-based aerospace consultancy.

The numbers cited by Kohler show Pakistan wants to make the F-16 a mainstay of its combat aircraft fleet, he said, terming this "very ambitious in terms of regional strategy and very costly."

The single-engine, multi-role F-16 is built by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. The new purchases would flesh out a fleet of about 32 F-16s acquired before Congress cut off sales in 1990 over Pakistan's nuclear program.

Kohler, in an interview with Reuters, said Pakistan had requested prices for F-16 Block 50/52 aircraft, the most modern F-16s flown by the United States and the current production standard. Similar aircraft have been exported to Poland, Greece, Chile, Oman and Israel.