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Portugal to buy F-16 upgrade kits

November 12, 1997 (by Lieven Dewitte) - Portugal will upgrade 20 of its F-16 fighters with modification kits bought from LMTAS. The deal, worth about $185 million, would also include support equipment, training, technical assistance and spare parts.
Portugal flies early versions of the F-16. To extend the life of its planes, Portugal will receive what are known as Mid-Life Updates, packages of advanced cockpit electronics and other equipment developed for European allies that use the F-16.

The kits are assembled largely with equipment acquired from other manufacturers in the United States and Europe, but Lockheed Martin manages the program from Fort Worth. The program was developed to upgrade European-owned F-16s.

More than 300 kits have been produced for those fighters. The Mid-Life Update is an avionics retrofit package for the F-16 that includes installation of a new central computer, a redesigned cockpit, a system that alerts the pilot to changes in terrain during low flight, a radar upgrade, and an aircraft identification system commonly known as Friend or Foe."

This proposed sale will contribute to the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the military capabilities of Portugal while enhancing weapon system standardization and inter operability with the U.S. forces in the region, " the Pentagon said ina statement.