Pakistan’s F-16: Is Islamabad free enough to use these fighter jets amid India-Pakistan tension? All you need to know

Pakistan still treasures American F-16 fighter jets even though China has replaced the US as Islamabad’s main arms merchant. As the tension between arch rivals — India and Pakistan — escalated this week, media reports suggested that India had shot down Pakistan's F-16 jets amid the conflict at the borders.

These unsubstantiated claims have again brought into focus this question: What are these F-16s? And can Pakistan use F-16 jets against India?

What are these F-16 jets?

According to the US Air Force, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is a compact, multi-role fighter aircraft. "It provides a relatively low-cost, high-performance weapon system for the United States and allied nations," it says.

The F-16 jets can locate targets in all weather conditions and detect low-flying aircraft in radar ground clutter.

"In an air-to-surface role, the F-16 can fly more than 500 miles (860 kilometers), deliver its weapons with superior accuracy, defend itself against enemy aircraft, and return to its starting point," the air force says.

When can Pakistan use American F-16?

Pakistan doesn't have a free-hand to use F-16s. The US has reportedly imposed strict restrictions on Pakistan's use of F-16 fighter jets, to ensure they are utilised only for counterterrorism, and not deployed against India.

“This is because the US military sale agreement with Pakistan limits how the country can use these warplanes,” Eurasian Times reported.

According to reports, every F-16 sold to Pakistan comes with the End-Use Monitoring (EUM) program which is "designed to verify that defense articles or services transferred by the United States Government (USG) to foreign recipients are used in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the transfer agreement or other applicable agreement."

Pakistan's F-16 under US' watch

For teh unversed, there's a Technical Security Team (TST), a contingent of contractors in Pakistan to monitor F-16. The TST includes US Air Force personnel stationed in Pakistan who conduct real-time monitoring of F-16 activities, the Times of India reported.

In February 2025, a Reuters report said the Trump adminstration released "$397 million for a US-backed program in nuclear-armed Pakistan that a congressional aide said monitored Islamabad's use of US-made F-16 fighter jets to ensure they are employed for counterterrorism operations and not against rival India.”

According to analysis group Quwa, the funds were intended support the TST to oversee the use of F-16s under “strict end-use monitoring rules, which seem to require the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to only use the F-16s, especially the newer F-16C/D Block-52 fighters, for counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism operations”.

The group said that this monitoring was not new. It said the TST was present in Pakistan since 2019 when the US approved its current deployment with a $125m support package for the PAF F-16 fleet.

Has Pakistan used F-16 before?

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had extensively used its aging F-16 fleet to support Pakistan Army operations in the Swat Valley and the Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

According to information furnished to the US by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, the PAF flew 93 sorties in August 2008 in operations against the Taliban.

Meanwhile, in 2019, India had claimed that the Indian Air Force had shot down one Pakistan's F-16 jet during Balakot airstrikes. “During the aerial engagement that followed, one MiG 21 Bison of the IAF shot down one F-16,” Air Vice Marshal RGV Kapoor was quoted by the Hindustan Times as saying.

F-16s | Key features

1.  Contractor: Manufactured by General Dynamics Corp., and Lockheed Martin.
2. Date Deployed: First Flight F-16A: December 8, 1976; First Flight F-16B: August 8, 1977.
3. Length: 47 feet 8 inches (14.52 m).
4. Height: 16 feet 5 inches (5.01 m).
5. Wingspan: 31 feet (9.45).
6. Weight: 33,000 pounds (14,968 kg/loaded).
7. Maximum Takeoff 7. Weight: 37,500 (16,875 kilograms).
8. Airspeed: 1,319 mph (2123 km/h) at 39, 870 ft (12,000 m).
9. Range: 575 miles (925 km); Maximum Range: 1,260 miles (2027 km).