Lockheed Martin believes it could attract orders for potentially another 300 F-16s, with prospective buyers for new-build jets currently including the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey.
Ankara has expressed interest in acquiring 40 new-build Block 70 aircraft and upgrading 79 of its in-service F-16s to Lockheed’s V-model standard. Outlined by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency early this year, a deal could be worth an estimated $23 billion.
OJ Sanchez, vice-president of Lockheed’s integrated fighter group, notes that Turkey is the second largest operator of the F-16 behind the US Air Force, with a fleet of 243 aircraft. “We are working through the final details of the Foreign Military Sales process,” he says of the potential new order.
Regarding its opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, he notes: “We are very confident that the F-16 is a great solution for both Thailand the Philippines.” Lockheed faces competition in both nations from Saab’s Gripen.
“There are a lot of countries with interest,” Sanchez says of demand for the F-16. “We see 300 airplanes out in the future”, he adds, while describing the single-engined type as noting: “an affordable, powerful and effective solution”.
Near-term, the company expects to finalise a follow-on order with Bulgaria for a second batch of eight Block 70 jets, following an earlier deal for the same number. “We’re soon to be contract,” Sanchez indicates.
Once finalised, this order will boost the company’s F-16 backlog to 136 jets. Other buyers of the Block 70/72-standard jet are Bahrain, Morocco, Slovakia and Taiwan.
The airframer’s first Block 70-model fighter for new operator Slovakia is due to arrive in Europe soon, having flown for the first time earlier this year.
The company has so far delivered 12 F-16s from its Greenville final assembly site in South Carolina, and Sanchez says it is on track to ship between 19 and 21 examples this year.
Its production ramp-up will continue and is due to achieve four aircraft deliveries per month by the mid-2020s, he says.
“As we work each individual [sales] case we will adjust our [production] line as necessary to provide those capabilities as long as the demand exists,” Sanchez said at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in the UK on 19 July. “That’s the F-16, and that’s how we’ve been doing it for 50 years.”
Meanwhile, the first Romanian pilots to pass through a new multinational European Flight Training Centre in the nation are about to graduate from the school. The Lockheed-established facility “helps Romania make its transition out of Russian-made aircraft into the F-16, as they move towards the [Lockheed] F-35”, Sanchez says.
