MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti) -- Pakistan plans to cut by half a $5.1 billion order for F-16 fighter jets from the United States for financial reasons, a national daily said quoting diplomatic sources Wednesday.

The Dawn newspaper said Pakistan had earlier planned to buy 36 F-16 Block 50/52 aircraft, including weapons, spare parts and upgrading of an earlier fleet purchased in the 1980s. The deal would have cost Pakistan $3 billion with an extra $650 million for weapons.

India's Business Standard said Pakistan's decision to reduce the order by half was linked to a financial crisis in the country caused by high oil prices and inflation. The leading business newspaper said Pakistan's ruling coalition is considering defense cuts as a result of the global financial crisis.

Pakistan, however, will still have to spend $1.3 billion to update and modernize its existing F-16A/B aircraft.

The sources said the new planes will be fully equipped with weapons and equipment that come with the F-16 aircraft and will be capable of carrying nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, giving the U.S. the right to carry out frequent inspections of the military fighters.

"The media stories that new aircraft will not have the facility to carry a nuclear weapon do not make sense," a defense expert was quoted as saying.

He said that the French Mirage aircraft now in service with Pakistan's Air Force did not have such a capability when they were purchased, but were later modified to give them nuclear potential.