The Pentagon is moving fast to cement its newfound friendship with India. USAF has staged two major air combat exercises—”Cope Indias”—in the past 18 months. Now comes word that Washington is weighing a possible sale of F-16 fighters equiped with he new Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar. In an interview with Reuters news service, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler, head of the Pentagon’s security assistance office, said the US is considering the radar sale as part of a $5 billion deal for more than 120 fighters. Reuters quoted Kohler as saying, “Their pilots [would] come to our schools. We’ll train with them. We will work very closely with their maintenance technicians.” The question, as always, is how Pakistan will react.
Earlier this spring, the 388th Fighter Wing proved just 12 Airmen can operate an F-35 contingency location, refueling and rearming the fighters at spots across Georgia and South Carolina. The demonstration, part of exercise Agile Flag 23-1, marks yet another proof of concept for the Air Force’s plan to send…