Breaking news
Agreement in the future Belgian government to replace the Air Component's F-16s.
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World
Aviation Defence and Security News - Belgium |
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| Agreement in the future Belgian government to replace the Air Component's F-16s | |||
According
to De Standaard, the negotiators of the next Belgian government agreed
this weekend on replacing the Belgian Air Component's F-16 multirole fighter
aircrafts. As stated earlier this summer by the Belgian Ministry of Defence,
the replacement of the F-16s should be completed in 2023 and concerns
the entire fleet of jet fighters. |
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 Belgian F-16s of the 10th Tactical Wing |
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Belgian MoD would buy 40 aircrafts, but there is no consensus yet on the selected jet fighter (the negociators as the outgoing Minister of Defense Pieter De Crem would however prefer the F-35). The project would be launched in 2015 and the final choice would intervene in 2018. The cost of replacing the fleet in could reach $5bn. In July 2014, Belgian MoD presented its Air Combat Capability Program, which outlined the different steps for the acquisition of new aircraft. The MoD contacted five state agencies to replace the current fleet of fighters: France for the Rafale, the United Kingdom for the Typhoon, the United States for the F-35 and F-18 and Sweden for Gripen R. |
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