Hi everyone,
This is my first-ever post on this blog, though I might add that I have been following this blog for years now without commenting. This thread however tempted me to finally jump into the pool. For the record, I'm an army brat and a Pakistani expat based in KL, Malaysia. Given my background, I've always been a defense enthusiast. Full disclosure, I do carry an unconventional approach that may often not go with crowd thinking and I also often find it hard to find the soft words to put my point through. Apologies in advance, it's just how things process up there. No offense to anyone.
So please, as a newbie, maybe go easy on me?
Coming to the point.
While everyone is afixed on Kekra, it seems people have completely missed the former CJS Zubair Hayat remarks of 200Bn proven reserves in Wazirstan alone. He made those remarks when he was still active duty. No one seems to know about it.
As for the "lastest" F-Solaz are concerned, this is just a wishful thinking let alone the numbers being discussed here. Please do come hit me up when the deal actually takes off the ground and I'm not even talking about the AC getting delivered. If the PAF is still looking into such deal then sadly the F-16 obssesed babaz of the PAF have learnt nothing from 90's crap. I wont even go into how we'll be funding this project, but for a number this high and active orders with LM, this deal will probably take 5-years to complete if the deal were to happen today. If anyone believes that Pak will be able to keep the Americans stuck in Afghanistan (which is the only edge it has as of now) for this long is completely living in a fools paradise. The Americans never remain cozy forever, and certainly not when they do not have any interest. In fact, I expect them to put Paksitan under immense sanctions once they have completely vacated Afghanistan. If for some reason the deal does get through but somehwere down the road sanctions are placed witihin this span it would be 90's all over again.
As the saying goes: Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.
It would be an utter embarrasment for the PAF to be fooled twice. This old-school baba g approach of the love for F-16s has to go for good. The best they must do, however, is to collect as many spares for their existing fleet of F-16s and look elsewhere. Though costly, this approach will give them a safety net they did not have in the 90's.
