May 14, 1998 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
Chile will decide in June which fighter aircraft it will buy to replace its aging air force fleet, Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Miguel Insulza said.
Chile is choosing between the JAS 39 Grippen made by Sweden's Saab AB, the Mirage 2000-5 jet of France's Dassault, the Boeing-owned McDonnell-Douglas F-18 and Lockheed Martin's F-16 to modernize its air force.
Earlier this month Chile's Finance Minister Eduardo Aninat said the country was still several months from deciding and it could depend on the price of copper because Chile's defense agencies receive 10 percent of all copper exports yearly.
