US announces air-to-air missiles for Pakistan after Trump-Sharif-Asim Munir meeting
What's the story
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has announced a new phase in defense cooperation with Pakistan. A freshly updated arms contract notified by the US Department of War (previously the Department of Defense) named Pakistan as a confirmed foreign buyer of Raytheon's AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM). The contract includes an additional $41.6 million for producing the C8 and D3 variants of these missiles, bringing its total value to over $2.51 billion.
Fleet upgrade
Deal expected to be completed by May 2030
The deal, which also includes the UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, Saudi, Israel, Qatar, Oman, Singapore, Canada, Bahrain, Italy, Kuwait, and Türkiye, is expected to be completed by May 2030. It is, however, unclear how many missiles Pakistan will receive. The inclusion of Pakistan in this program has led to speculation about possible upgrades to its F-16 fleet. The AMRAAM missiles are only compatible with PAF's F-16s and were used in 2019 when an Indian Air Force MiG-21 was shot down.
Diplomatic ties
Pakistan currently operates older C5 variant of AMRAAM
Pakistan currently operates the older C5 variant of the AMRAAM, with around 500 units acquired in 2010. The development comes after a major thaw in Islamabad-Washington ties. Last month, President Donald Trump met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir in Washington, DC. Munir had earlier also held a rare one-on-one meeting with President Trump at the Oval Office in June.
Ceasefire credit
US credited for helping broker ceasefire between India, Pakistan
After that, PAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar also visited the US State Department in July. The US-Pakistan ties appeared to have improved following a conflict between India and Pakistan in May. After the clash, Pakistan credited Trump for helping broker a ceasefire and even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. In July, Trump announced that the US has struck a deal with Pakistan, "whereby Pakistan and...US will work together on developing their massive oil reserves."