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The United States has approved a multimillion-dollar defense deal to upgrade Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Pakistan’s Air Force currently operates a diverse fleet of both US-made F-16 Fighting Falcons alongside Chinese-built JF-17 Thunder and Chengdu J-10C fighter aircraft, giving it a mix of Western and Asian combat platforms with varying capabilities. Earlier this year, shit hit the fan between Pakistan and India after a deadly cross-border attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which both countries blamed on one another. The incident escalated into a series of air skirmishes that saw Pakistani and Indian fighter jets, including Rafales and JF-17s, engage in brief but intense aerial confrontations, with both sides claiming to have shot down each other’s aircraft.

What’s going on now: In a notable development, the United States has greenlit a $686 million defense package aimed at upgrading and sustaining Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 fighter jets, a deal that has been years in the making. The package includes 92 Link-16 tactical data link systems (advanced technology that enables secure, real-time communication between aircraft, ground forces, and command centers) as well as six inert Mk-82 bomb bodies for weapons integration testing. In addition to these core components, the deal encompasses a wide array of upgrades, including aircraft hardware and software enhancements, avionics modernization, Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems, cryptographic and secure communications gear, advanced navigation tools, joint mission planning systems, training simulators, spare parts, and extensive engineering and logistics support.

The deal is significant as it both reinforces Pakistan’s ability to conduct precision counterterrorism operations and joint exercises with US and allied forces while also ensuring the F-16 fleet remains operationally viable through 2040.

This all comes after Pakistan initially submitted a request for these upgrades in 2021, but the process was stalled amid broader geopolitical tensions. At the time, the US was trying to deepen security ties with India as a counterweight to China.