PARIS: Pakistan wants to upgrade its ageing fleet of fighter jets in anticipation of a prolonged battle against militants, although the purchase of fifth-generation planes would only be a last resort, a senior air force official said.
Pakistan, fighting a Taliban insurgency in the tribal areas, a separatist insurgency in Balochistan along its Iranian border, also has a heavily militarised and disputed border with India in
the east.
In 2014, the military launched a crackdown in North and South Waziristan and has managed to push back militants into a few pockets.
But the air force, which will need to retire dozens of jets over the coming years, lacks the latest technology and relies heavily on a fleet of about 70 US-made Lockheed Martin F-16s, which are solely capable of carrying out precision targeting.
