On January 18, the United States will deliver the first of eight P3-C Orion aircraft to Pakistan in a deal valued at close to $1.2 billion. The P3-C is a long-range, maritime surveillance aircraft designed for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, and will augment, and ultimately replace, Pakistan’s current fleet of European-made Atlantique aircraft. In December, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of another deal, valued at close to $900 million, for three additional P3-C aircraft with E2-C Hawkeye 2000 Airborne Early Warning system. The agency asserted that the sale “will not affect the basic military balance in the region.” In addition to the sale of the eight P3-C Orions, the deal will also include “six Phalanx close in weapons systems and an ammunition complement of 2,000 TOW-2A missiles and 14 TOW-2A Fly-to-Buy missiles.” All of this is dwarfed by the already approved sale of 36 F-16s to the Pakistani air force, which is expected to take delivery in 2010, in a deal valued at as much as $3 billion. And Pakistan isn’t just buying aircraft. Late last year, the Pakistanis reached an agreement with the French government for the sale of 3 diesel-electric submarines in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. The White House has approved the sale of 130 Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Pakistan to arm the new subs. It’s hard to imagine how such substantial arms transfers, generously subsidized by the American taxpayer as they are (the United States has promised $1.5 billion in military aid over a five year period), won’t tip the balance of power in South Asia, and specifically in the Arabian Sea, where the Indian navy has long held an advantage over their Pakistani rivals. In the analysis of one retired Indian naval officer, “the P3C Orion will definitely change the strategic and tactical dimensions of naval warfare in the Arabian Sea.”
The P3-C Orion
