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Last edited by RomAF on Feb 25, 2008 - 05:56 PM; edited 1 time in total

The Romanian Air Force is replacing its Mig 21 Lancer(Digital Fishbeds) with a new multirole aircraft .The most probable are F16 Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon but also F 18 Hornet and Raflale are a possibility .the contract has a budget of more then 3.5 billion euros

US has offered 48 F 16 C from it's national reserve for the commitment to buy the F35 starting 2020 .Doing this the Romania would gain the status of partner in the Joint Strike Fighter Program .

A decision was not yet taken by the government . The Mig 21 starts to end service since 2012 so the decision should be taken this year for 48 or 24 new second hand or a half new half sh .

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Elite 1K Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1215 Status: Offline

Are you sure it's 3.5 million euros? That won't even get 1 plane.

Enthusiast Joined: Feb 20, 2004 Posts: 49 Status: Offline

Purplehaze wrote:

Are you sure it's 3.5 million euros? That won't even get 1 plane.

Maybe they're putting it on layaway?

The figure is 3.5 billion Euro...

Elite 1K Joined: Apr 26, 2004 Posts: 1215 Status: Offline

That make more sense...........

Newbie Joined: Feb 07, 2007 Posts: 4 Status: Offline

It is a tough decision. First of all, all the planes listed above are good and I'm talking here about the F-16, JAS 39 Gripen and the Eurofighter. Rafale and F-18 are out for undisclosed reasons Smile

Eurofighter is exceptional, but it's very expensive. Gripen seems to fulfill very well the needs of Romanian Air Force and it isn't very expensive. And the last option -- which is quite tricky -- second-hand F-16s (for free I guess) with the commitment to buy F-35 from 2020.

The last offer is the most interesting, but if I am about to chose, I'll go with the Gripen. The transition from MIG-21 to JAS 39 Gripen is the best for Romania.

Billion euros sorry ..........

Economically Gripen is the best chiose but Romania is not on the safest position in the globe and I don't know if 48 Gripen can maintain air superiority .
Eurofighter maid the promise to make Romania a partener and let us build it here .
Is it true that the flyight hour on the Gripen is about 20.000 euros (30000 $) and on the Gripen is 3500 euros(5000 $) ?

Enthusiast Joined: Jul 03, 2007 Posts: 97 Status: Offline

A mix of Blk 25 and Blk 52.

Why blk 25? There old ....
Why not blk 52 and Eurofigter 24-24.
And after 2020 EF and JSF Wink

Thta way we will be on both programs have an air superiority fighter and a stryke fighter . And it is the most powerfull option from my point of view since the US is not selling the Raptor and Russian weapons are out the question

Newbie Joined: Feb 07, 2007 Posts: 4 Status: Offline

In the end, we can't talk about a bad choice -- each offer is okay from a point of view or another.

Usualy in Romania F 16 is considered a bad choice ,as an old jet with big upgrade and maintananace cost but until 2020 I say that it could still be an option .
A bad choice is buying a more expensive plane like EF and not having the budget for proper pilot training and enough flight hours .
It should be analyzed also politically and economically .From the military perspective EF with rented blk 52 and then F 35 I think is the best ..

Newbie Joined: Feb 07, 2007 Posts: 4 Status: Offline

Maybe---but Romania does not need the Eurofighter. It's much more expensive than what it can offer. Rented F-16's Block 52 for more than a decade, then F-35, seems to be the most likable option, but IMO Grippen suits Romania's needs best.

I hope . I'm not sure you know this but Romania is in a dangerous zone . We have Serbia as neighbors (we used to have good relations with them traditionally but now anything is possible ) with Hungary (we have a dispute for a territory Transilvania ,might of heard of it in Dracula movies Smile

) with Ukraine we where close to a full scale war over Snake Island , Moldova is a former Romanian territory and a lot of Romanians consider unification and it is an also an unsafe spot .Plus Russia is close and Putin doesn't like us very much .

Gripen could be solution. I am curios about the new one with new engine and AESA radar. BUt I don't know what is Gripen' s chance in the stealth era ....

Newbie Joined: Feb 07, 2007 Posts: 4 Status: Offline

Indeed, things don't look very well in Serbia and theoretically, it won't be long until Romania accepts Kosovo's independence. But it's too early to talk about a "true" conflict in that area.

F-16 is not 100% stealth too. And, in the case Romania buys the Grippen---this is the third possibility after all, UE and US will have the upper hand---these aircrafts will be replaced by 2020, so it doesn't matter too much if it's the Gripen or the F-16.

Quote:

as an old jet with big upgrade and maintananace cost but until 2020 I say that it could still be an option .

It is an old jet but it has a proven record. You could entrust certain expectations in multi combat roles on the Viper given the situations you explain. I had heard that getting enough flight hours for regular active duty pilots has been a problem due to economical reasons, the viper should be right in the middle given the economical situation, you would not be getting a cheap jet with less capability, and not an expensive, fancy but not proven jet.

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