Douglas Barrie/LONDON
Andrzej Jeziorski/WARSAW
LOCKHEED MARTIN is examining the use of surplus F-16A/Bs drawn from stocks in Belgium and the Netherlands to offer in fighter competitions in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
Belgium has around 32 early-model F-16s, and the Netherlands up to 35 aircraft available. These could be used to meet emerging Eastern European combat-aircraft needs, it is believed.
The Netherlands and Belgium is understood to have previously approached the USA over independently selling or leasing surplus aircraft, although the US Government has been unwilling to sanction this.
While using secondhand European aircraft would entail more conversion work than drawing on US Air Force stocks, this solution is viewed in some quarters as being "more politically acceptable". Such an approach would be viewed as one European country providing other European countries with combat aircraft.
The Netherlands and Belgian aircraft are pre-Block 15 models and would require considerable modification before entering front-line service.
Poland is expected to draft a shortlist of candidates to fulfil its combat-aircraft requirement by June, with a formal decision process to begin in March 1997, say senior Government sources.
The decision will then be affected by the Polish parliamentary elections, to be held in the third quarter of 1997. "If a decision does not come three months before the election, it will be delayed by about a year afterwards," says one source.
Poland is also looking at the Dassault Mirage 2000C, Mikoyan MiG-29M and Saab JAS39 Gripen. McDonnell Douglas is also offering the F-18.
Poland intends eventually to buy between 40 and 80 aircraft.
The Polish air force's favoured solution, and the cheapest, is the F-16. The used aircraft are understood to be on offer at a $10 million unit price, although the cost of changing the Polish infrastructure to NATO standards may also need to be considered.
Source: Flight International
