October 16, 2012 (by Lieven Dewitte) -
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $94.7 million contract to retrofit a dozen F-16 jets from the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO). The deal was administered through Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio while work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas.
RAFO F-16C block 50 #810 and #811 from 18 sqn are flying over the desert. [RAFO photo]
The completion date is planned for May 16, 2016.
Located on the Strait of Hormuz,
Oman has spent heavily over the last year to upgrade its F-16s. In June, Lockheed won a $23 million contract to equip the jets with their Sniper targeting pods.
That upgrade followed a March deal with Northrop to upgrade the radars on the fighters, and a June announcement that it intends to purchase a block of
Sidewinder missiles from Raytheon Missile Systems.
Earlier this month Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract valued up to $1.85 billion to initiate the upgrade of 145
block 20 F-16A/B aircraft for the
Republic of China.
Lockheed Martin has also received a $23 million contract from Oman to provide additional Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (
ATP) for their F-16 fleet.
