Jordan acquires 8 Dutch and 14 Belgian F-16 MLUs

phil · by **phil** » 20 Apr 2006, 17:27

Jordan signed a letter of intent about the acquisition of 20 F-16 MLUs, Belgian Ministry of Defence announced.

This Letter of Intent was signed today in Amman by a member of the Jordan Ministry of Defence, the Dutch Secretary of Defence and the chief of Material Ressources from the Belgian army, Lieutenant-general De Winter.

The deal will be for 12 Belgian and 8 Dutch F-16 MLUs.

See the F-16.net news article at http://www.f-16.net/news_article1755.html

phil · by **phil** » 20 Apr 2006, 17:41

Probably the 12 F-16AMs stored in Weelde : FA-58, FA-60 (damaged on 20/04/2004), FA-61, FA-65, FA-66, FA-73, FA-74, FA-75, FA-76, FA-78, FA-88, FA-90

Or one of the F-16BMs : FB-01, FB-08

FALCON16 · by **FALCON16** » 20 Apr 2006, 19:40

Hoy,

Below a direct link to the Netherlands AF website concerning the possible sale: http://www.luchtmacht.nl/main/actueel/n ... danie.html

Greetings,
FALCON16

Lieven · by **Lieven** » 21 Apr 2006, 19:08

Hi Phil,

I just heard Belgium will sell 14 of its F-16s.

Cheers,
Lieven

phil · by **phil** » 24 Apr 2006, 08:48

Well then maybe all the F-16s stored in Weelde (12 AMs and 2 BMs).

Cheers.

Lieven · by **Lieven** » 24 Apr 2006, 21:06

phil wrote:Well then maybe all the F-16s stored in Weelde (12 AMs and 2 BMs).

Hi Phil,

It seems you are right. I have confirmation that, as you stated, the aircraft are indeed: F-16AMs: FA-58[/serial], [serial]FA-60[/serial], [serial]FA-61[/serial], [serial]FA-65[/serial], [serial]FA-66[/serial], [serial]FA-73[/serial], [serial]FA-74[/serial], [serial]FA-75[/serial], [serial]FA-76[/serial], [serial]FA-78[/serial], [serial]FA-83[/serial], [serial]FA-87[/serial], [serial]FA-88[/serial], [serial]FA-90[/serial] and [serial]FB-01[/serial], [serial]FB-08.

Lieven

Lasse · by **Lasse** » 03 Jan 2007, 22:16

Two more sources:

23 Dec 2006 - The Royal Jordanian Air Force will receive 22 F-16A/B aircraft from the Belgian and Dutch Air Force storage. According to a letter of intent received from Jordan, the Belgian Air Force will deliver 14 modernized (MLU) aircraft, while the Dutch AF will deliver additional 8. According to Belgian Aviation History website, several aircraft have been observed in preparation for delivery to SABCA for further modernization. Jordan pilots are expected to arrive next year in Belgium for a complete conversion on the type before ferrying their aircraft home in late 2007 and early 2008.

Source: http://www.defense-update.com/newscast/ ... 06.htm#f16

12 Dec 2006 - The sale of 14 stored Belgian F-16AM/BM to Jordan is being processed. The contract should be signed very soon. The Jordan Letter of Intent for a total of 22 MLU modernized F-16A/B fighters (8 Dutch & 14 Belgians aircraft) was signed at Amman by prince Faisal Bin al Hussein, Dutch State Secretary of Defence, Cees Van der Knaap, and the Belgian Chief of the Material Resources of the Belgian Army (DG-MR), Lt.-Gen. Jacques De Winter and publicly announced on April 20th, 2006 (See BAHA News of April 2Oth, 2006). Several F-16’s (incl. FA-61 & FA-73) were observed earlier this month at Weelde DisC mat being prepared for their ferry flight to the N°10 and N°2 Wing Maintenance Groups for an in depth technical inspection and eventual transfer to Gosselies SABCA plant. The Jordan pilots should arrived next year in Belgium for a complete conversion on the type before ferrying their aircraft home in late 2007 and early 2008. The price of this deal is still unknown but will surely be a welcome input into the Belgian defence budget. The aircraft involved in the deal should be F-16AM: FA-58, FA-60, FA-61, FA-65, FA-66, FA-73, FA-74, FA-75, FA-76, FA-78, FA-88, FA-90 and F-16BM: FB-01, FB-08.

Source: http://www.baha.be/Webpages/Navigator/N ... 2006_4.htm

Master-of-Disaster · by **Master-of-Disaster** » 15 May 2007, 11:22

FB-01 should be in a museum, and not be sold to anyone at all. Ever.
I feel bad for her, I really do.

+ why spend a sh$$load of money to upgrade these birds, just to put them in storage and then sell them after some years in the mothballs?

The money that was spend on airplanes we didn't need anymore could have been spend in the JSF program, or any other program involving the developement of a possible replacement for the F-16. Or even other valuable systems.

On the other hand, the Belgian Air Component became to small to make a difference. Less than 70 combat capable aircraft. It's a shame.

I hope that Mr Flahaut gets another job (or no job at all) after the elections and someone else, someone who's not a complete retard is put on the departement.

TJSmitty · by **TJSmitty** » 15 May 2007, 20:20

The aircraft that the Jordanian's currently fly are "OLD" Block 15 (or 25) ADF birds that originally flew for the Florida ANG before their transition to Eagles. These were in storage up until '94 or '95 when they were taken out and given an quick MLU, of sorts, before going over to Al Azraq AB.

BTW, it is a "lovely" drive out to the base from Amman every day....

Corsair1963 · by **Corsair1963** » 15 May 2007, 20:54

TJSmitty wrote:The aircraft that the Jordanian's currently fly are "OLD" Block 15 (or 25) ADF birds that originally flew for the Florida ANG before their transition to Eagles. These were in storage up until '94 or '95 when they were taken out and given an quick MLU, of sorts, before going over to Al Azraq AB.

BTW, it is a "lovely" drive out to the base from Amman every day....

Regardless, Jordan's Military has made great strides over the last several years........... :wink:

TJSmitty · by **TJSmitty** » 15 May 2007, 21:35

Corsair1963 wrote:Regardless, Jordan's Military has made great strides over the last several years...........

Not trying to imply otherwise.... just that the aircraft were "tired" when they were sent over.....and that was 11 or so years ago.

The Jordanian's actually did a great job maintaining their own aircraft, their avionics folks (at least the ones I worked with) were very capable and wanted to learn how the systems worked, so that they could maintain them.

Smitty

Falconniek · by **Falconniek** » 31 May 2007, 20:52

Hello everyone,

Who can tell me about the serials of the Dutch Vipers that have been sold to Jordan?

Thanks,
Falconniek

JoeSambor · by **JoeSambor** » 31 May 2007, 21:17

Hi Tim,

I have made that drive!! The 100 MPH run, slowing down for one cop car that sits in the same place every day. And don't forget to take your Amman Hilton box lunch with you to work, because there is no place to go to lunch out there...

Best Regards,

alain.delire · by **alain.delire** » 31 May 2007, 21:36

Falconniek wrote:Who can tell me about the serials of the Dutch Vipers that have been sold to Jordan?

Hello,
Check the <a href="f-16_aircraft_database.html">F-16 Aircraft Database</a> of this site, in the backend of <a href="f-16_serials_airforce-RJAF-num1.html">RJAF</a> you'll find the answer.

TJSmitty · by **TJSmitty** » 31 May 2007, 21:45

Joe,

Were you around in '95, when the Lockheed van hit a "Jordanian road flare" (basically a bunch of rocks piled up behind the car, then when the car is fixed they drive off and leave the pile of rocks) the Lockheed van hit it and a few of the guys got messed up pretty good.

Smitty