I could do with 15 (ie around 2020). Then it would be:
Belgium
Norway
Denmark
Venezuela (presumably)
Indonesia (not unlikely)
Turkey (F-16A/B only)
Depends a lot on how much of a failure, timeline-wise, the F-35 will be.
Romania to start talks to buy fighting jets
- Thread starter drg
- Start date
Belgium
Norway
Denmark
Venezuela (presumably)
Indonesia (not unlikely)
Turkey (F-16A/B only)
Depends a lot on how much of a failure, timeline-wise, the F-35 will be.
Yes, if I was a US ally. Cheaper Planes (i.e relatively cheaper than EF, Rafaele, F-15) multirole capability, large number of weapons to use on it, general more 'bang for the buck', large number of spares to pick over as other Air Forces retire fleet their fleets, Instant NATO standard interoperability. Proven track record.
TBPH I would not expect them to last the 30-40 years you expect, but they are a good 'entry level' fighter for those new to US Fighters and Systems, and which some countries (Poland, Singapore spring to mind) see as a way to establish a path to buying better F-35As later on.
Grand Danois
Entertainer
Holland (and Portugal?).
Grand Danois
Entertainer
I am a bit confused. Is the Typhoon capable of using GPS guidance alone or is it only laser designated guidance (albeit the weapon can use dual guidance if the mission computers allow it)?
A
Aussie Digger
Guest
You missed my point entirely I think.
You claim the F-16 is rapidly becoming an obsolete platform and yetyou have not justified this claim in any way whatsoever, whilst simultaneously criticising other posters for "weak arguments"...
The point of mentioning the Countries I did is to illustrate that the F-16 is the cornerstone of most modern Air Forces around the world and despite newer types being ordered, will remain the West's "maian" fighter. For the next 15 to 20 years at least until replacement aircraft reach FOC. This could be the F-35, as quite a lot of current F-16 users are likely to place orders for F-35's I agree, however there are almost as many, if not more who have NO announced plans to replace the F-16, but extensive plans to upgrade their F-16 variants, both structurally and through avionics enhancements and continuing operating the aircraft for more than 10 years yet.
The fact that companies such as Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are investing heavily in development of AESA radar technology retrofits for F-16's and other aircraft (SABR and RACR) show that THEY expect to get upgrade work for F-16's for many years to come.
http://www.f-16.net/news_article2748.html
http://www.f-16.net/news_article2965.html
The F-35 is unlikely to achieve full operational service in the Countries that order it FIRST (USA, Britain, Australia etc) much before 2020. Other Countries may indeed order later versions of as is happening with Block 50/52/60 versions of the F-16 right now.
These "other" Countries are likely to only see FOC on the F-35 in the 2020-30 timeframe and yet will rely on existing F-16's for that entire time. In Europe alone these Countries are likely to include Poland, Belgium and Portugal at least, all of whom operate modern "first world" military forces and yet have no plans to replace their F-16's in under 10 years.
It's not hard to do a bit of research before making a point...
A
Aussie Digger
Guest
I have not seen any info from Blegium to show that it is considering retiring it's F-16's at any point.
I'll bet you a beer they have F-16's in-service still in 2018.
As above.
Granted. However I was asking Zeven...
Maybe. Depends whether they get US help to operate them or not, ie: if the US FUNDS them, I'll doubt they'll be retired any time soon.
They will still have 200 F-16's in-service in 2020. I'd bet my house on it. I wasn't stating that ALL F-16's in-service now will still be in-service in 2020, but I would bet a large amount that F-16's still provide the bulk of Turkey's air combat capability in 2020...
To a certain extent, but it's a value for money issue. Turkey for instance is spending a massive amount upgrading 200+ F-16's to Block 52+ (equivalent) standard and this upgrade isn't likely to finish before 2013-2015 due to the sheer amount of work to be performed.
Morocco has just ordered 24 new build Block 52 aircraft. These won't even start to be delivered until 2012 I would suggest...
These will NOT be obsolete aircraft in 2018...
So here is the deal. There will be new elections in november, a new government by December. There is 0 chances that the current government will close the fighter deal by then. The probable next government will then have to make the choice.
The army likes the Grypen for a lot of reasons, maintenance, cost effective, local manufacturing of many components.
The Eurofighter is considered superior (of course) in theory but not a mature technology (in terms of obtaining the fighters in time , i.e. by 2012, with all relevant AG and AA integrated systems) and quite expensive. Nobody is able to provide the Romanians a defined answers in terms of how much it would cost to integrate all the necessary weapons : BWR missiles, AG, Anti radiation etc
The F16... nobody likes it, nobody wants it except the president (Basescu) who owes the americans. He has been elected with american $, support and so forth. But the president will not have a decisive say if a new social democrat coallition comes to power in december.
The F18 and the Rafale are not considered seriously. They have not been tested enough by the army. (the eurofighter and the Grypen have spent a lot of demo time here)
The army likes the Grypen for a lot of reasons, maintenance, cost effective, local manufacturing of many components.
The Eurofighter is considered superior (of course) in theory but not a mature technology (in terms of obtaining the fighters in time , i.e. by 2012, with all relevant AG and AA integrated systems) and quite expensive. Nobody is able to provide the Romanians a defined answers in terms of how much it would cost to integrate all the necessary weapons : BWR missiles, AG, Anti radiation etc
The F16... nobody likes it, nobody wants it except the president (Basescu) who owes the americans. He has been elected with american $, support and so forth. But the president will not have a decisive say if a new social democrat coallition comes to power in december.
The F18 and the Rafale are not considered seriously. They have not been tested enough by the army. (the eurofighter and the Grypen have spent a lot of demo time here)
Todjaeger
Potstirrer
As I understand it, the RAF did an accelerated mod/development program for some of their Typhoons, post-production. A number of AGM systems were fitted to those Typhoons, but the program AFAIK did not involve developing multi-role production variants of the Typhoon. These will (were? are to? :unknown) be done for the Tranche 3 production Typhoons I believe.
Over the next few years, the Typhoon will have a greater multi-role capability, but I believe at this point, it is more a planned or notional, as opposed to actual capability for most Typhoons currently in inventory as well as those in production.
-Cheers
Scorpion82
New Member
That's wrong all block 5 Typhoons (final tranche 1 configuration) are basically multirole capable and cleared for gun strafing as well as the deployment of LGBs in the 2000 lb and 1000 lb classes including the GBU-10/16 and Paveway II. But the stock block 5 aircraft are dependent on buddy-lasing for accurate weapons delivery. All customers placed priority on the AA role, just the RAF has a more urgent need for AG capabilities, that is the reason for the austere package which adds Enhanced Paveway II dual-mode boms and the Litening III LDP for autonomous precision strike capabilities. Initial block 8/tranche 2 aircraft will merely focus on the AA role either and just later tranche 2 examples will introduce more comprehensive AG capabilities.
Weapons integration doesn't correspond precisely to the production batches, & is not linked, except sometimes for convenience. Tranches 1, 2, & 3 are production batches.
2S1
Banned Member
I agree with earlier comments here, for me F-16 and Grippen are the only real options when it comes to cost/numbers required.
One possibility I can see however, and Grand Danois states this earlier; the security relationship between France and Romania is strong. Does anyone know how many Mirage 2000C are currently available on the second-hand market? Perhaps a deal similar to that Dassault has with Brazil could be explored, with an eye to a future Rafale bid perhaps?
One possibility I can see however, and Grand Danois states this earlier; the security relationship between France and Romania is strong. Does anyone know how many Mirage 2000C are currently available on the second-hand market? Perhaps a deal similar to that Dassault has with Brazil could be explored, with an eye to a future Rafale bid perhaps?
2S1
Banned Member
Fair play, I did say it was only possibility.
I assume your Romanian from other posts. What do you think Romania will go for?