Selection of a fighter aircraft to improve the effectiveness of air combat in the war on terror: Pakistan air force - a case in point

The selection of military aircraft, by nature, is a process consisting of conflicting goals and objectives at the conceptual, preliminary, and detailed level. In order to ease the process of making decisions wisely from a varied group of options available, Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods are applied effectively. A scenario is put forth pertaining to defense acquisition, when a contemporary air force needs to select and add new and better fighter aircrafts to their pre-existing fleets. This paper studies the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and its goal to improve its aerial defense and precise ground strike capabilities. Moreover, this paper aims to help raise the bar of general aerial defense and counter terrorism operations. This research paper also sets an appropriate methodological approach for defense procurement and the fleet up-gradation planning process via the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), an MCDM technique. Furthermore, this study specifically focuses on a set of ten technical and economic criteria, applied over six alternative aircraft while, keeping in mind, the counter-insurgency and aerial defense requirements of PAF. Lastly, a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) has been applied to ensure that the selected alternative is in line with the economic constraints faced by the limited fiscal budget of Pakistan.