A decision to purchase Joint Strike Fighters may be put off until the next government term. Sources in The Hague have told Dutch public broadcaster NOS that the most likely scenario is that a test plane will be bought this year, and another one next year.
The parliamentary leaders of the Christian Democratic CDA, Labour Party and Christian Union (the three coalition government parties) will discuss the issue on Thursday.
The coalition parties are divided on whether to go ahead with plans to purchase the United States-built JSFs to replace the F16s currently used by the Dutch military. The Christian Democrats are in favour of buying the new planes, Labour has serious objections to the plan and the Christian Union has misgivings.
The agreement on which the coalition government is based states that a definite decision about the replacement for the F16s will be taken next year. However, since the agreement was drafted doubts about whether to buy the Joint Strike Fighter have increased as a result of the economic crisis.
The decision will probably be postponed until 2011 or 2012.
