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Romania plans to purchase 12 multirole fighter aircraft F-16 from Portugal 2106131.
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World
Air Force News - Romania |
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| Romania plans to purchase 12 multirole fighter aircraft F-16 from Portugal. | |||
The Romanian government on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, announced it plans
to purchase a 12-strong squadron of used F-16
multirole fighters from Portugal, to replace the current
Soviet-built MIG-21 Lancers. A draft piece of legislation concerning the
acquisition was passed by the cabinet and will be submitted to parliament
for final approval, according to the press office of the government. |
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| Romania will probably spend 628 million euros (842 million U.S. dollars) over five years in 2013-2017, according to an earlier release of the government. At most 20 percent of the amount will be used to pay for the aircraft and the rest will be used for logistic support, former Defense Minister Corneliu Dobritoiu said last autumn. The package includes everything necessary for the operation of the planes: the training of pilots, maintenance, upgrading and everything else, announced Defense Minister Mircea Dusa in April. According to sources, the fighters are among the 25 F-16s delivered to Portugal by the United States in 1999 under the Peace Atlantis II Program. Prior to that, they had been used by the U.S. Air Force since 1984 before they were placed in storage. The aircrafts are in "very good" condition, according the Romanian expert teams sent to Portugal to evaluate the technical condition of the multi-purpose jets with the assistance of U.S. experts. Though the fighter jets from Portugal are already 30-years-old, they can be used for at least 20 more years, according to experts. The
Romanian Air Force operates some 48 MiG-21 Lancer jet fighters, which,
after 40 years of missions, are towards the end of their flight resources. |
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