Senate chairman criticizes sale of fighter planes to Pakistan

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a stinging rebuke Wednesday of a decision by the Bush administration to sell 18 F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan in the midst of the political turmoil that has gripped the country since the assassination last month of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said the decision was "reckless" and sends the wrong message to the Pakistani government and its citizens that the administration was letting President Pervez Musharraf "off the hook" for his recent suspension of the constitution and his inability to clamp down on terrorism.

"The decision to go ahead with a half-billion-dollar sale of advanced fighter aircraft to Pakistan shows how dangerously misguided President Bush's policy is," Biden said in a statement. "How can the White House even think of green-lighting such a sale at such an incredibly sensitive time?"

On the final day of 2007, the Defense Department announced in its daily contracting roundup that Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas, had been awarded a $498 million contract to provide Pakistan with 12 F-16C single-seat aircrafts and six F-16D two-seat planes. Nearly all the funds for the firm fixed-price contract have been obligated, the briefing stated.

In an e-mailed statement, Lockheed Martin said, "All 18 of these new aircraft will be delivered by 2010. Lockheed Martin appreciates the trust placed in us to produce the F-16s for the Pakistan Air Force."

Lockheed Martin, Defense's biggest contractor, won a $144 million contract in 2006 for parts and materials needed to build the F-16s for Pakistan. Earlier in the year, the U.S. and Pakistani governments signed a letter of offer and acceptance, agreeing to the purchase of the 18 fighter jets as well as an option for another 18 aircraft.

The United States also approved an arms sale last year for Pakistan to upgrade its current fleet of single-seat F-16A combat planes with new weapons and machinery.

In December 2006, June Shrewsbury, vice president of Lockheed's F-16 programs, touted the $144 million deal as "another great day for the F-16 program and for our customer. We remain committed to providing Pakistan with the most technologically advanced and proven fighter available on the international market today … We value our long-standing relationship with the government of Pakistan and the confidence they have placed in the F-16 in support of their nation's security."

The new F-16s are expected to be delivered to Pakistan by 2010.

But Biden argues that the contract may not be legal. The recently passed 2008 Defense authorization bill bars any financial assistance to Pakistan for weapons sales that are not for counterterrorism purposes. A candidate for the White House in 2008, Biden said the primary purpose of F-16s is to balance India, rather than combat terrorism.

"The day after President Musharraf announced his state of emergency, I publicly called for a possible suspension of big-ticket military sales like F-16s, and called Musharraf to warn him that his acts would have consequences," Biden said. "Just before Christmas, Congress enacted legislation to prevent the administration from taking exactly this sort of reckless action. The administration's decision is just plain wrong and should be reversed, immediately, until Pakistan returns clearly to the democratic path."

Administration officials, however, insist that U.S. military aid is not involved in Pakistan's F-16 program. In a teleconference with reporters last month, Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, said the F-16 procurement was a Pakistani purchase with the country's own money.

A spokeswoman for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, which issued the F-18 contract, did not respond to a request for comment.