First of 18 F-16D combat aircraft for Pakistan rolls out

October 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US has unveiled the first of 18 new F-16s being produced for Islamabad amidst a furore in Pakistan over the tough anti-terror conditions attached to a bill to provide $7.5 million worth of non-military aid over the next five years. Officials including the chiefs of staff of the US and Pakistan air forces were on hand to witness the event at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, facility Tuesday.

October 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Navy Monday started its six-week-long Seaspark 2009 maritime exercise in the North Arabian Sea, officials said. Pakistan Marines, Special Services Group, ships, submarines and aircraft will participate in the exercise, the Inter Services Public Relations said in a statement.

October 10th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Responding to media reports in which questions were raised over the frequent arrival and take-off of heavy US cargo aircraft at Benazir International Airport (BIAI), the US Embassy has said that such operations were not secret. US Embassy spokesperson, Richard Snelsire disclosed that the Star Lifters of the US Air Force were being used to transport some military equipment from the US.

September 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States sold arms worth $4.5 billion to Pakistan between 2005 and 2008, says a Congressional report even as Washington has expressed concern about reported diversion of military equipment away from the war on terrorism to fight India. An updated Congressional report released last month says Washington signed arms transfer agreements with Pakistan in excess of $3.5 billion in the year 2006 alone, "ranking Pakistan first among all arms clients of the United States during that calendar year".

August 21st, 2009 ZHUKOVSKY - Russia will deliver 26 engines for upgrading the MiG-29 combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF), with another 120 to be assembled in India, following an agreement with the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) at the ongoing MAKS 2009 air show near Moscow, officials said Friday. The RD-33/series 3 engine, being delivered by state-run arms exporter Rosoboronexport, is an upgraded version of the powerful RD-33 turbofan with thrust vectoring for the MiG family of fighters.

August 19th, 2009 LONDON - A custom-built Rolls Royce that once belonged to the Maharaja of Rajkot is set to become the world's most expensive car when it goes under the hammer in Germany. The car, known as the Star of India, is expected to fetch 8.5 million pounds at the auction being conducted by the Rolls-Royce Museum at Muhlheim, reports the Telegraph.

August 19th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia's Irkut aircraft building corporation has picked Britain's Rolls Royce and Canada's Pratt & Whitney to supply engines for its new MS-21 aircraft, the corporation's president said Wednesday. Speaking at the international MAKS air show near Moscow, Oleg Demchenko said: "The best two firms have been chosen.

August 10th, 2009 LONDON - An American man has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm, after he was discovered to be hiding a 9mm pistol in-between his rolls of fat. George Vera, an obese prisoner in Texas, weighs around 35 stones and 10 lbs, and he was held in a prison in Harris County in the southern state, reports the Telegraph.

August 5th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilot was killed Wednesday when his aircraft crashed near Attock city on a training flight, the air force said in a statement. The PAF said that the FT-7 aircraft went down because of technical problems near Attock city in the eastern Punjab province Wednesday.

August 4th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has "technically gone bankrupt", PIA Managing Director Captain Ijaz Haroon has said. Talking to a private TV channel, Haroon said no one had bothered to inquire about PIA's affairs for the past many years, and now, there was nothing that he could do to improve the worsening situation.

July 22nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - US Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has said India, Pakistan and the United States face a common enemy, and that a joint effort is needed to crush the threat facing the region. Addressing a press conference here, Holbrooke said: "India, Pakistan and the US are surrounded by a common enemy.

July 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar has said all necessary steps would be initiated by the government to enhance the combat capabilities of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Talking to the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman, Mukhtar expressed hope that successful launch of the JF-17 Thunder aircraft manufacturing project would add to the PAF's power in the coming days.

June 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - With the Pakistan Army intensifying its offensive against the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan, the United States, with an aim to provide a wide array of videos and other information on the extremists' movements, has resumed secret drone surveillance over the lawless tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, US and Pakistan officials said. The secret surveillance drone flights would provide the Pakistan security forces real-time video feeds, communications intercepts and other information, to assist them hunt down the Taliban chieftain and dismantle his terror network, The New York Times reports.

June 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will begin production of JF-17 thunder jets, a lightweight multi-role combat aircraft, in collaboration with China, the Online news agency reported Tuesday. The countries signed an agreement in March for the production of 42 JF-17 fighters at the Pakistan Aeronautical complex in Kamra in Punjab province.

June 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan is expected to start mass production of its first locally built modern fighter jet by the end of this month, joining other countries that manufacture their own combat aircraft, the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) chief said Saturday. "We will start production of this aircraft from the 30th of this month (June) and, Insh Allah (God willing), the first Made in Pakistan JF-17 aircraft will fly in Pakistan's airspace by the end of this year," PAF chief Air Chief Marshal Qamar Suleman said.