ET NEWS

Pakistan is likely to receive the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) from the US, amidst improvement in ties between the two countries, a media report said on Tuesday.An arms contract recently notified by the United States Department of War (DoW), formerly Department of Defence, lists Pakistan among the buyers for AIM-120 AMRAAM, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.According to the DoW, Raytheon - the manufacturer of the AMRAAM - was given a modification of over USD 41.6 million on a "previously awarded contract (FA8675-23-C-0037)" based on "firm-fixed-price (P00026)" for the production of the missile's C8 and D3 variants.The modification, which includes Pakistan among its foreign military sales recipients, raises the total value of the contract to over USD 2.51 billion."This contract involves foreign military sales to UK, Poland, Pakistan, Germany, Finland, Australia, Romania, Qatar, Oman, Korea, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Singapore, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Japan, Slovakia, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Norway, Spain, Kuwait, Finland, Sweden, Taiwan, Lithuania, Israel, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Turkey," the notification states.It adds that work on the order is expected to be completed by the end of May 2030.Although it remains unclear as to exactly how many, if any, new AMRAAM missiles would be delivered to Pakistan, the development has triggered speculation about potential upgrades to the Pakistan Air Force's F-16 fleet.In PAF service, the AMRAAM is compatible exclusively with the F-16 fighter jet and was reportedly used to shoot down the Indian Air Force MiG-21 flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in February 2019, according to the newspaper.Notably, PAF Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar visited the US State Department in July.According to the defence publication Quwa, the AIM-120C8 is the export version of the AIM-120D, the main AMRAAM variant in US service. The PAF currently operates the earlier C5 variant, 500 of which were acquired alongside its latest Block 52 F-16s in 2010, the paper said.The development comes as relations between the two countries showed marked improvement following the four-day military conflict between Pakistan and India in May.Pakistan credited US President Donald Trump for arranging a ceasefire and topped it by proposing his name for the Nobel Peace Prize. India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.