News

Raytheon will produce 813 AIM-120B and AIM-120C AMRAAM's for the U.S. Aeronautical Systems Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., under a new $243 million contract.

Three Turkish F-16 war planes left Cyprus on Friday after a one-day stay that has added to heightened tension on the divided island following a Greek air force visit earlier this week.

Six Turkish F-16s landed in northern Cyprus on Thursday. Ankara said the visit was in response to a stopover this week of Greek aircraft at a military base in the south of the island.

Belgian F-16 fighter aircraft will take part in a NATO exercise over the Balkans on Monday designed to step up pressure on Yugoslavia to halt the conflict in Kosovo.

There have been some Chinese language press reports that the Taiwanese pods will be downgraded in some way. The USA has agreed to supply JTIDS terminals for the Taiwanese E-2C Hawkeyes. Presumably, theirF-16s will get the appropriate equipment to link to those.

Norway's Air Force said on Thursday that the Eurofighter and American-built F-16 fighter planes were deadlocked in a competition for a big new order.

Monday's announcement by the US Department of Defense that it is willing to provide Taiwan with 28 Pathfinder/Sharpshooter navigation and targeting pods. The proposed US$160 million deal, the main purpose of which is to improve the navigation and targeting abilities of some of the F-16s. The Pathfinder/Sharpshooter pods allow the F-16 to navigate at low altitudes and find targets more accurately. According to defense industry sources, the new equipment also greatly improves night flight safety.

The 28 Pakistani AF F-16A/B aircraft currently stored at the AMARC could possibly be donated to the Air Force of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a part of the US led "Train & Equip" program. As Pakistan is already taking part in this program (training Bosnian Army Anti-tank missile teams), this is a solution that could satisfy both sides in this long dispute.

Lockheed Martin and Rafael have expanded their coproduction and marketing agreement to include promotion of the Python 4 air-to-air missile. The step provides the Israeli weapons development agency with access to the global F-16 market.

Pesident Bill Clinton on Friday described his talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as "a good long conversation about where we go from here" to deal with Pakistan's security and other concerns. He told White House reporters he was impressed with the depth of understanding that the Pakistani Prime Minister showed.

NovaLogic announced that it will launch "F-16 Viper". This flight simulation features an industry-first, large-scale multiplayer capability that allows F-16 Viper pilots to compete against multiple products within the same on-line combat arena via novaworld.net.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen will visit Argentina, Chile and Brazil from May 23 to 27 to emphasize close U.S. ties with South America and encourage continued progress in civilian control over militaries in the region.

U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee leaders and other key senators said Sunday they would let Pakistan have the F-16 fighter aircraft if it did not match India's nuclear test blasts.

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.

The government of the United Arab Emirates today announced that it has selected Lockheed Martin's new F-16Block 60s as its advanced fighter aircraft. The total program including weapons and support is valued at approximately $7 billion. A contract with the U. A. E. is expected to be signed later this year. Aircraft deliveries are expected to begin in 2002. We understand the United States has also agreed to sell the Emirates HARM missiles designed to destroy enemy radars as well as advanced AMRAAM anti-aircraft missiles, both carried by the F-16. As of May 1, Lockheed Martin had delivered more than 3, 700 F-16 aircraft to the air forces of 19 countries. The company's contracted backlog as of May 1 includes orders for approximately 260 additional F-16s, not counting the 80 in the U. A. E. sale. The "Block 60" is the most sophisticated version of the F-16. The export order, the first for this model, will secure some 30, 000 U.S. jobs.