Lockheed Martin
Slovakia signs for F-16V fighters
Jiri Kominek, Prague
and Gareth Jennings, London - Jane's Defence
Weekly
13 December 2018
The
Slovak government has signed a EUR1.6 billion (USD1.8 billion) procurement
contract with the US Department of Defense (DoD) for 14 Lockheed Martin F-16V
Block 70/72 Fighting Falcon multirole combat aircraft.
"The Slovak
Republic officially signed documents on the basis of which it will procure 12
single-seat fighters and two two-seater versions", Slovak Prime Minister
Peter Pellegrini said on 12 December.
The contract
includes provisions for support as well as the training of air and ground crew.
Raytheon AIM-120C7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and
AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles are also included.
The Slovak armed
forces will take delivery of the first four aircraft in 2022, two of which will
be two-seater variants, and the remaining 10 single-seater aircraft by December
2023. The F-16V features the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 active electronically
scanned array (AESA) radar (derived from the F-16E/F Block 60 AN/APG-80 and
also known as the Scalable Agile Beam Radar [SABR]), a new Raytheon mission
computer, the Link 16 datalink, modern cockpit displays, an enhanced electronic
warfare system, and a ground-collision avoidance system.
Slovakia selected
the latest version of the F-16 to replace its fleet of 12 Russian-built MiG-29
'Fulcrum' aircraft that are becoming obsolete (only two or three aircraft are
airworthy at any one time).
Slovak Ministry
of Defence (MoD) sources say it will extend the service-life contract of the
MiG-29 fleet until December 2023, when the Slovak armed forces take delivery of
all 14 F-16 aircraft. The MoD will need to negotiate with Russia or third-party
countries in order to secure the necessary spare parts for its MiG-29 fleet.
Source: www.janes.com
No comments:
Post a Comment