In what Indian officials and military analysts say is the clearest indication yet that Pakistan’s F-16 fleet was affected during Operation Sindoor, the United States has approved a $686 million sustainment and systems-upgrade package for the fighter jets, a scale and composition that align closely with the damage documented at key Pakistan Air Force bases earlier this year.
The package, notified to the US Congress by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), covers an extensive suite of avionics, communications and mission-support upgrades that directly correspond to the categories of equipment and infrastructure that internal Pakistani documents, first reported by this newspaper, showed had been degraded in the aftermath of the Indian operation.
According to the DSCA notification, the $686 million package includes Link-16 tactical data link systems, new secure communications and cryptographic modules, updates to the Operational Flight Program (OFP) software, advanced mission-planning and debriefing systems, ground-based test equipment, and a large inventory of critical spares and support items.
The package also provides for engineering and technical services from the original equipment manufacturer, simulator support, documentation suites, depot-level maintenance assistance and hardware needed to recalibrate and re-certify F-16 avionics and weapons-integration systems. In addition, it includes inert Mk-82 500-pound bomb bodies, used for weapons-release and systems-integration testing.
Senior Indian officials point out that many of these items closely mirror the categories of equipment Pakistan rushed to repair or replace after the strikes.
Internal tenders from PAF bases such as Shahbaz, Mushaf, Minhas, Masroor and Faisal, which were disclosed in this newspaper’s earlier reporting, showed urgent requirements for restoring disrupted communications grids, mission-support servers, electronic warfare systems, power-distribution networks, ground-testing apparatus and storage processors.
Those documents indicated that the infrastructure under-pinning F-16 operations had been impacted, even if Pakistan issued no public admission of losses.
The DSCA’s package is dominated by non-MDE (non-major defence equipment) support, roughly $649 million of the total, signalling an emphasis on restoring and enhancing system availability rather than acquiring new hardware.
Analysts note that this category includes the replacement of ground systems, avionics modules and crypto gear, all of which would be essential if PAF’s F-16 fleet had experienced operational disruption or required rapid re-certification following infrastructure damage. Lockheed Martin, the original equipment manufacturer of the F-16, is listed as the prime contractor.
