WASHINGTON, Nov 27: Two F-16 fighter jets will be flown to Pakistan this week as part of a deal between Washington and Islamabad while a P-3C Orion aircraft has already been delivered to the Pakistan Navy, US sources told Dawn.

A senior staffer at the Congressional Arms Committee said the US Congress has already finalized the deal and the planes are ready to be flown to Pakistan.

In July, the US agreed to deliver at least two F-16s to Pakistan by November while the rest of the planes were to be delivered in small batches.

Pakistan was expected to buy 75 F-16s from the US at a cost of $3-4 billion. Of these, 50 were new F-16C/D Falcon while 25 were old but upgraded versions of the aircraft. The deal included upgrading of the 30 F-16s Pakistan received in the 1980s.

But earlier this month, Pakistan and the United States reached an understanding, allowing Islamabad to temporarily delay the deal at least until April next year. The Bush Administration also delayed an earlier decision to seek Congressional approval for the proposed deal till at least the next session.

The two planes, now being flown to Islamabad, are upgraded versions of the old aircraft that Pakistan had originally received in the 1980s and will be added to the existing fleet of more than 30 F-16s.

The decision to delay the larger F-16 deal was finalized at a meeting between Ambassador Jehangir Karamat and US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca in Washington on Nov 7.

Ambassador Karamat later told Dawn the deal was going to cost Pakistan as much as $4 billion and “we felt that at this stage we need that money for the earthquake victims”.

P-3C ORION: The US also has delivered the first of eight P-3C Orion aircraft to the Pakistan Navy, ahead of its scheduled 2006 delivery date.

The jets will improve command-and-control capabilities of the Pakistani Navy.