F-16 BASING: REQUEST FOR BASING REVIEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 003246 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/26/2017 TAGS: MARR PREL PK SUBJECT: F-16 BASING: REQUEST FOR BASING REVIEW REF: (A) ISLAMABAD 3168 (B) ISLAMABAD 2794 Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, for reasons 1.5 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Summary and Action Request. Following Ambassador's July 21 meeting with Pakistan Air Chief Marshall Tanvir, post requests a review of paragraph 9 (basing and personnel restrictions) of the pending security notes for the $3 billion sale of 18 block 52 F-16s to Pakistan before the Congressional hearing scheduled for August 16. ¶2. (C) The purpose of the sale was two-fold: to augment Pakistan's defensive capacity; and to send a strong political signal that the U.S. intends to remain engaged in Pakistan. Current basing and personnel restrictions make full use of the aircraft impractical, effectively sub-optimizing the capabilities of the aircraft and undermining the purpose of the sale. Post believes there is scope to amend these restrictions in a way that both protects U.S. security interests and enables more effective use of the aircraft for Pakistani and U.S. interests. End Summary and Action Request. ¶3. (C) Ref A reports on Ambassador's July 21 meeting with Pakistan Air Chief Marshall Tanvir to inform him that mid-life upgrades to Pakistan's existing F-16 and EDA F-16 aircraft must occur outside of Pakistan. Tanvir reported that the Pakistan Air Force would base its new block 52 F-16s (currently in production) and some MLU aircraft at Shabaz Airfield in Jacobabad. He requested information on the security survey soonest so the Pakistan Air force can begin making the necessary budget and engineering decisions necessary to comply with the security notes. ¶4. (C) Tanvir stated that Shabaz would be an all F-16 base; however, he stressed the need to also base French manufactured Alouette rescue helicopters at Shabaz for safety reasons. As we noted in Ref B, other foreign origin aircraft -- particularly Spanish made C-235s for supply and troop transport and Russian and Ukrainian built MI-17 helicopters for troop transport -- would also need access to Shabaz if the Pakistan Air Force were to efficiently carry out its day-to-day operations and training. ¶5. (C) Post appreciates support for the waiver process we proposed in Ref B but also requests a review of the personnel restrictions to determine how they could negatively affect joint exercises and Pakistani pilot training. ¶6. Comment: Strict interpretation and adherence to current basing restrictions will cause serious operational, training and safety problems for the Pakistan Air Force and will impose added costs beyond those expected to arise from the security survey. Further, the basing restrictions, in our view, simply do not improve the security of U.S. technology. We believe it should be possible to monitor the security of the F-16s while allowing Pakistani-owned, foreign manufactured aircraft access to a different part of the same base. We request Washington consider ways to both meet our national security needs and help Pakistan obtain the most operational value from their significant investment in these F-16s. PATTERSON