Sixty Air Force F-16C jet fighters in the Gulf each cost $2, 335 an hour to fly, including base support, maintenance, fuel and aircrew.
Asia's economic turmoil could force Lockheed Martin and partner Samsung Aerospace to delay the first deliveries in a $2 billion South Korean government-backed contract to build the F-16 fighter for the South Korean air force.
Thailand's economic downturn has forced the cash-strapped air force to ground 100 fighter-jet pilots whom it can no longer afford to train.
With Chile expected to make a decision in its program for a fighter aircraft in the next two months, US and European aircraft manufacturers are fiercely competing for the lucrative production contract.
US defense aviation manufacturer Lockheed Martin said its F-16 and F-2 fighter jet programs in Asia were proceeding as scheduled despite the economic crisis in the region.
Textron Systems announced today, it has been awarded a $144 million contract by the Aeronautical Systems Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida to provide the USAF with 550 Sensor Fuzed Weapons (SFW). The Sensor Fuzed Weapon is a direct-strike, air-to-ground, smart munition developed in partnership with the USAF. Delivery of FRP3 units are scheduled to begin the first quarter of 1999. The SFW can be deployed on operational USAF and NATO tactical aircraft and delivered day or night from altitudes of 200 to 20, 000 feet, at speeds up to 650 knots. It has been certified for carriage and release from many USAF tactical aircraft including the F-16 fighter, and is operational on the B-1 bomber. Also known as CBU-97, SFW utilizes smart Skeet warhead technology to seek and sense moving or stationary land combat vehicles. One weapon can effectively destroy moving and stationary land combat vehicles within a15-acre coverage area.
Pilots of Greece's Hellenic Air Force have completed a series of 30 evaluation flights in the F-16 at Nea Anchilos Air Base in Greece. The evaluation was conducted over a 15-day period that began on February 2. The Hellenic Air Force has ordered a total of 80 F-16 aircraft under two previous purchases and is presently evaluating candidate aircraft types for another purchase of fighters expected to be placed later this year.
The US ambassador in Athens visited the 111 Fighter Wing in Volos yesterday to observe several demonstration flights of upgraded F-16 Fighters, now manufactured by the consortium Lockheed Martin.
Six F-16s and 80 pilots and support personnel from the US Air Force Reserve are taking part in Exercise "Cope Tiger '98" with air force personnel from Singapore and Thailand. The manoeuvres, staged in Singapore and Thailand from8 to 20 February, also involve US Marines from Iwakuni, Japan.
The US Air Force plans to equip up to almost 250 F-16s of the Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard with targeting pods for close support and battlefield air interdiction. Candidate systems must be self-contained and capable of recognizing ground targets at stand-off distances and designate them for attack with laser-guided weapons. The contract is scheduled for award in August.
Sources close to the military told Reuters two Turkish F-16 fighter jets that took off from Dyarbakir and Cobra helicopters based near Sirnak bombed rebel targets in northern Iraq's Metina area on Tuesday.
Pratt & Whitney's newest engine, the F100-PW-229A, for F-15 and F-16 aircraft, demonstrated unprecedented performance in recent altitude tests at the company's Willgoos test facility. A
On Sunday February 8th part of the French team that went to Red Flag 98-2 made a four day stop in Venezuela to conduct an exercise with the FAV. The delegation included 4 Mirage 2000-Ds, a C-130 and a KC-135. During the exercise, called Miranda 98, the French aircraft together with Venezuelan Mirage 50Vs and F-16s trained on daylight PGM delivery using the new Litening pods (carried only by theF-16s), while FAV helicopters and support and cargo aircraft from both airforces conducted an exercise of their own. On the 11th all forces joined and conducted a combined exercise, Red Flagstyle but on a much smaller scale.
U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered 19 combat planes and about 30 support aircraft to join the U.S. force gathered in case President Bill Clinton decides to attack Iraq. Six F-117 stealth fighter-bombers, six B-52 bombers, six F-16 fighters and one B-1B bomber, go to Kuwait, Bahrain and the Indian Ocean Island of Diego Garcia.
Selected Air National Guard (ANG) F-16C's (being equipped with an advanced reconnaissance pod developed by the Aeronautical Systems Center) are assured of the pod's medium-altitude surveillance capability thanks to an Air Force contract awarded today. The center's Theater Airborne Reconnaissance System (TARS) Program Office has awarded a $6. 25 million contract modification to Lockheed Martin Fairchild Systems, Syosset, N. Y., for six Medium Altitude Electro Optical (MAEO) sensors and associated circuit cards for the TARS pods, which are carried externally on F-16C's.
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