Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC
Israel's air force has settled its long-running fighter competition by ordering 50 Lockheed Martin F-16Is for $2.5 billion, and taking options on up to a further 60. The announcement follows a last-ditch attempt by Boeing to clinch the contest, offering an F-15L version of its Eagle.
A letter of agreement is to be signed by 20 August, following approval of the order by Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak on 16 July. Deliveries will begin in 2003, and Israeli sources say the options may be Block 60 standard aircraft.
All of Israel's F-16Is will be two-seaters equipped with conformal fuel tanks that will give the aircraft a 1,120km (600nm) combat radius.
They will be supplied with the Northrop Grumman APG-68(V)X synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on which Israeli radar house Elta will become a subcontractor - a compromise following the US Administration's rejection of an Israeli demand to equip the aircraft with an Elta-developed SAR.
Other Israeli-sourced equipment will include an Elisra electronic warfare suite, Elbit cockpit avionics - including 100 x 100mm (4 x 4in) multifunction colour displays - and the same company's helmet mounted sight. Lockheed Martin says that, with this equipment and Israel Aircraft Industries supplied components, the customer nation will supply 25% of the aircraft.
No engine selection has been made, but the air force is expected to decide next month between the Pratt &Whitney F100-229 and the General Electric F110-129 improved performance engines.
Lockheed Martin has committed to $1.5 billion of industrial co-operation with Israeli defence companies. According to Shiki Shani, Lockheed Martin vice-president for Israel, the company will "make a best effort" to increase industrial co-operation.
Israeli sources criticised Boeing for its last-minute effort to sell F-15s by offering a "secret" version of the fighter, the F-15L, which it claims will be cheaper than the current aircraft. The decision is a bitter blow to Boeing. Its hopes of keeping F-15 production open rested largely on an Israeli order (Flight International, 12-18 May). The company has announced a run-down of the St Louis line early next year and has revealed job cut plans affecting 7,000 people.
The F-15L proposal did not change the original decision to buy a large number of F-16Is to replace many of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and A-4 Skyhawks still in service. This decision was made more than two months ago, and approved by the previous defence minister before national elections, only to be re-approved by Barak, who also acts as defence minister.
Lockheed Martin says that F-16 deliveries will still drop from 110 aircraft this year, to 30-40 a year from next year through to 2002, before increasing to 80-90 during 2003 to 2005 with the delivery of 58 aircraft to Greece, 24 to Egypt and 30 to the US Air Force, as well as a hoped-for United Arab Emirates deal.
Source: Flight International
