F-16's Cancelled Orders
Austria - Östereichische Luftstreitkräfte
Lockheed has proposed the F-16C/D to the Austrian air division, who need an urgent replacement for its obsolete Draken interceptor aircraft. An F-16 has even been painted with Austrian roundels, just to show how handsome it would look. Austria is also considering the Saab JAS-39 Gripen, Dassault Mirage 2000-5, Boeing/MDD F/A-18C/D, the Eurofighter Typhoon and an export variant of the MiG-29. The Rafale is not being considered.
After a round of talks with the different manufacturers, the Austrian government finally decided to purchase 18 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters to update their air defenses. After major flooding occurred in 2002, this decision was put on hold, although it now seems that this purchase is bound to happen.
Czech Republic - Vzdusné sÃly armády Ceské republiky
Ever since joining NATO in 1999, the Czech Republic has expressed its intention to update its current fighter force with more modern Western equipment. Up until recently no action was taken. However, in July the Czech Government decided to purchase up to 14 second-hand aircraft to update its Air Force.
A decision on the $550 - 650 million deal is expected to be taken very soon now.
In 2001 a decision was made to purchase up to 24 JAS-39 Gripen fighters. However, the major floods that devestated parts of the country in 2002 delayed a firm decision and the order for the Gripens was cancelled.
At the end of 2003, the Czech government finally announced that the winner of their fighter competition was the Swedish JAS-39 Gripen. With that decision, the Czech government stressed its earlier commitment to the Gripen. This decision was made after SAAB agreed to a 140% offset agreement.
Hungary - Magyar Légierö
After being invited in July 1997 to join in a first round of alliance expansion that will bring in Poland and the Czech Republic as well, Hungary said it would launch a $1 billion tender for around 30 new planes to update its aging Soviet Mig-21s once the conditions and requirements of its NATO membership were clear.
Russian aircraft stand little chance in this competition, as Hungary is very eager to join NATO through the PfP (Partnership for Peace) program, and Western equipment can only speed things up. The Air Force is considering the Rafale, Gripen and F-16 and enjoyed demonstrations from all three aircraft. The 1997 Salon du Bourget saw fierce battles being fought between the representatives of the competing companies over the orders. Most Eastern European potential customers hoped that increased employment, technology transfers and compensation orders would pay for their new fighters. As this proved not to be the case, sales to that part of the world will probably have to wait until after the change of millennium.
But when NATO talks began in September 1997, Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs said the country might delay the upgrade of its fighter fleet, if NATO confirmed it saw modernization of radar systems as a priority.
In November 1997, Hungary's defense minister announced his country would not be able to meet NATO's requirements for air readiness (more specific the minimum flying time for pilots set at 180-200 hours per year) unless it gets new fighter planes. Hungarian pilots currently fly MiG-29s and MiG-21s for only 50 to 60 hours per year.
In October 1998, Hungary officially announced that it cannot afford new fighter aircraft. Hungary also announced it does not have the funds to buy new aircraft. It is considering extending the service life of its MiG-29s, leasing aircraft, or purchasing light aircraft such as the L-159.
On September 10th, 2001, the Hungarian Government decided to lease 14 JAS-39A/B Gripens from the Swedish AF. A lease agreement for 10 years was signed on December 20th, 2001. After the Parliamentary elections in April, 2002, the new Government aimed at an upgraded version of the Gripen fighter. On February 3rd, 2003, a modified agreement was signed for a 10 years lease of 12 single-seat JAS-39C and 2 twin-seat JAS-39D Gripens added with a commitment to buy the aircraft after the leasing period.
Iran - Imperial Iranian Air Force
The first foreign customer, beyond the four European NATO originators, of the F-16 program was Iran. As a part of the Shah's plan to modernize the Imperial Iranian Air Force, Iran signed a letter of intent on October 27th, 1976 for 160 F-16 aircraft, with the possibility of a follow-on order for 140 more. However, the Iranian revolution of 1979 which resulted in the overthrow of the Shah and the rise of the Islamic fundamentalist regime which currently rules the country, caused the order to be cancelled.
Unfortunately, one immediate effect of the cancellation of the Iranian order was that the individual unit cost of the F-16 was sharply driven upward. However, many of the F-16s intended for Iran were eventually sold to Israel.
Parts and maintenance equipment has arrived in Iran as early as 1978 and ground personnel have been given training. (Ground support equipment was later sold to Pakistan ).
New Zealand - Royal New Zealand Air Force
The New Zealand Government announced on December 1st, 1998, that it will lease-buy the 28 Pakistani F-16s which have been kept in storage at the AMARC (Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Center) at Davis-Monthan AFB, also known as the (desert) Bone yard. The Vipers have to replace New Zealand's 19 aging, subsonic A-4K Skyhawk strike planes. The aircraft were thoroughly inspected to ensure that they were still in mint condition.
The aircraft were stored at AMARC in 1990 as a direct result of the embargo against Pakistan. The aircraft were put in Flyable Hold for 5 years, during which time 85% of each aircraft's fuel system was preserved with JP-9, and each aircraft had its engine run once every 45 days. This resulted in the curious situation that most of those aircraft now have more engine run time than airtime, the latter being only 6 hours. This low air-time figure, plus the fact that these aircraft are the most modern F-16A/Bs ever built, is the main reason why New Zealand decided to buy these second-hand F-16s.
New Zealand's minority government claimed it would make a huge savings by leasing the planes. The 10-year lease for the F-16A/B Block 15OCU fighters costs about NZ$200 million ($105 million). The lease should save NZ$431 million over the cost of buying new planes next century. The government opted to acquire the F-16s under a lease-buy deal, with payments spread over 10 years and delivery starting in 30 months.
Pakistan originally paid Lockheed-Martin for the supersonic fighters in 1990, but Congress blocked delivery over concerns about that country's developing nuclear capacity.
In 2002 the newly elected government decided to abandon the plans to replace the A-4K with the Pakistani F-16s because of other needs to be financed with the sparse financial capabilities of the country.
If the aircraft would have been delivered, they would have been operated by 75 Squadron at Ohakea and No. 2 Squadron, which is a detachment based at Nowra, NSW in Australia providing air attack training for the Australian Navy (the RNZAF got paid by Australia to undertake this task).
South Africa - Suid-Afrikaanse Lugmag
Rumor has it that a benignly cheap price is being asked for second-hand F-16s, which would help beef up the African Crisis Response Force, should it ever come to anything.
In early 1999 however, South Africa seemed to express a definite preference for 28 JAS-39 Gripen aircraft, with an option of 20 more. The South African government has signed an agreement for the purchase of the Gripen, which will be delivered by late 2003.
Spain - Ejército del Aire
The USAF has offered Spain's Ejercito del Aire forty ex-USAF F-16A's to help fill in the gap until the arrival of the Eurofighter Typhoon, which is not now expected to enter service in Spain until 2005 at the earliest.
The United States government offered about 50 F-16 aircraft to re-equip the 21st wing (the Moron Roosters), which had retired its F-5s in 1992 and was using C-101 advanced trainers as an interim solution.
The Spanish government, however, did not accept this offer and decided to buy about 24 second-hand (US Navy-surplus) F-18s. The Spanish Air Force was already operating F-18s and starting to operate a new fighter would have been much more expensive and complicated.
Web master tell me why countries are going for the other planes if the modren F-16's are the most modren multirole fighters then all countries rush towards it but it is not the case .Countries who are not an operator of F-16's hesitate to use this fighter the reason can be hundreds like the time period for the pilot to muster all the combat ablilties of this planes they rather prefer to buy some of the european aircrafts and on the other hand the Russian Aviation exports are also down and India also want to go towards some european countries .If a country wants a real kind of defence then they should go for it .The US also dont want to transfer or dont want to give its latest technologies to the other countries so what should others do the only way is french Rafales and Mirages
