WASHINGTON, Oct 31: First of the six C-130 military cargo planes that Pakistan is buying from the US left for Islamabad on Monday with relief goods for earthquake survivors, officials said.

“This is the first of the six but we do not have a schedule for other deliveries,” Pakistan’s defence attaché in Washington Brig Khawar Hanif told Dawn. “Right now, our top priority is the earthquake and the PAF is heavily involved in relief operations.”

Pakistan may also delay a deal to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States because of the devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.

In August 2003, the US had agreed to sell six C-130 military cargo planes to Pakistan as part of defence assistance committed under the $3 billion aid granted by US President George W. Bush during his Camp David meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf earlier that year.

Under the agreement, US aircraft firm Lockheed Martin was to sell six new C-130 planes to Pakistan at an estimated cost of $75 million. The company had committed to start handing over the planes to Pakistan by the end of 2005.

An agreement, signed by the then US ambassador in Islamabad, Nancy Powell, and a senior finance ministry official of Pakistan, also provided for complete upgradation of cockpit avionics for the current Pakistan Air Force C-130 fleet.

The C-130 Hercules primarily performs the tactical portion of the airlift mission. It is capable of operating from rough dirt strips and is the prime transport for air dropping troops and equipment.