McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) has begun a ten-day demonstration tour with its F-18 of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
The Czech Republic air force, meanwhile, has completed an eight-flight evaluation of the competing Lockheed Martin F-16 as the three central European nations move towards acquiring Western fighter aircraft.
MDC has leased a US Marine Corps F-18D normally based at Aviano AB, Italy, after the aircraft it planned to use crashed during practice sessions in the USA, killing a company test-pilot.
The aircraft is scheduled to be taken to Keckskemet in Hungary, Pardubice in the Czech Republic and Bydgoszcz in Poland, where selected Government and air force officials will be shown demonstration flights.
A Czech team including two pilots formally evaluated the F-16 at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, plant in early August. MDC expects a similar evaluation in late September. Small contingents from Hungary and Poland have already flown the F-18 in the USA.
Ben Park, F-18 programme manager for central Europe, says that the countries are being offered two options: new F-18C/Ds or the five-year lease of seven ex-US Navy F-18A/Bs - six single-seat As and a two-seat B. Similar deals are being offered for the F-16.
Leased aircraft will be available within two years of contract award and will enable the air forces to gain early experience operating Western aircraft, Park says.
Aircraft leases are being offered at no cost, but the countries will have to pay for spares, support and training, including the provision of a flight simulator, Park says. The central European countries are expected to launch formal procurement in 1997. Romania has also expressed interest in Western fighters, he says.
As well as the US offerings, French, Swedish and Russian aircraft are also being offered.
Source: Flight International
