DTN News - ROMANIA DEFENSE NEWS: Romania Finally Settles On Portuguese F-16s

DTN News - ROMANIA DEFENSE NEWS: Romania Finally Settles On Portuguese F-16s

(NSI News Source Info) HONG KONG, Canada - October 19, 2013: Late last week, Romanian defense minister Mircea Dusa signed the contract for a €600 million ($817 million) deal to acquire 12 Lockheed Martin F-16AM/BM fighters from Portugal. An initial installment was paid at the same time. The acquisition of F-16s will finally allow Romania to operate NATO-compatible aircraft, and also brings to an end a long-running saga to provide a replacement for the dwindling LanceR fleet of upgraded MiG-21s.

Included in the deal are nine current Portuguese air force aircraft and three that Portugal is acquiring through the U.S. excess defense article program. This trio will be put through a mid-life update (MLU) program at Portugal’s OGMA maintenance, repair and overhaul company to bring them up to F-16AM/BM standards before delivery to Romania. The deal, which covers nine F-16AM single-seaters and three F-16BM two-seaters, also includes the training of an initial batch of nine pilots and 69 technicians, to be undertaken partly in the U.S.

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DTN News - PHILIPPINES DEFENSE NEWS: Philippines Seeks 12 F-16 Fighter Jets, Coast Guard Ship From US Amid Territorial Row

DTN News - PHILIPPINES DEFENSE NEWS: Philippines Seeks 12 F-16 Fighter Jets, Coast Guard Ship From US Amid Territorial Row

 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada / MANILA, Philippines - December 22, 2011:  The Philippines will seek a squadron of F-16 fighter jets and a third coast guard ship from longtime ally Washington amid simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Wednesday that he and the country’s defense chief will meet their U.S. counterparts in Washington next year to discuss the requests. The Philippines has turned to the U.S., a defense treaty ally, for warships and planes to patrol South China Sea areas it claims.

Del Rosario said the requests for 12 F-16 fighter jets and a third coast guard cutter have already been relayed to American officials and their initial response was encouraging.

“We are getting good signals,” Del Rosario told reporters.

The Philippines wants to build “a minimum credible defense posture and the U.S. has expressed their willingness to help us,” del Rosario said.

Washington has provided a Coast Guard cutter and agreed to send another one next year to the Philippines, which is locked in territorial disputes with China and four other governments.

The Philippine military, one of Asia’s weakest, only has about six aging fighter jets. It relaunched the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter it acquired from Washington as the local navy’s biggest and most modern warship in an austere ceremony led by President Benigno Aquino III last week.

http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2011/12/dtn-news-philippines-defense-news.html