Wednesday, November 18, 2009

DTN News: Lockheed Martin Poised To Sell F-16 In Middle East, Besides Egypt

DTN News: Lockheed Martin Poised To Sell F-16 In Middle East, Besides Egypt *Source: DTN News / Defense Media (NSI News Source Info) DUBAI - November 19, 2009: Lockheed Martin has strong hopes of clinching a sale of the F-16 fighter with an undisclosed Arab country in the near future, said Rick Groesch, regional vice president for the Middle East. “We have very, very good prospects of selling more in the region,” Groesch told journalists Nov.17 at the air show here. The deal, which could be sealed by the end of the year, would be for the block 50 version of the F-16 aircraft, he said. The mystery buyer is not Egypt, where Lockheed is in detailed negotiations for a sale. Iraq, Oman and Jordan are seen as potential buyers, a French aerospace executive said. A Lockheed team is currently in Egypt for “final discussions” for a prospective purchase of 24 F-16s, Groesch said. The U.S. Congress has cleared the way for a sale with a notification and the present talks were aimed at finalizing contract details. Lockheed sees potential sales of 100 to 200 F-16s around the world until the F-35 becomes available for export. That market estimate excludes the Indian competition for 126 fighters. As part of the Indian tender process, Indian officials will be invited to the U.S. to see live weapons firing by the F-16 at a number of sites in the last week of January and first week of February. A production backlog of 76 F-16s is expected is expected to the line busy until 2012. Countries which have bought the aircraft in the past couple of years include Greece with 30 units, Pakistan (18), Morocco (24) and Turkey (30). A number of countries are upgrading their F-16s to the more capable block 50/52 version, a modernization program expected to keep the aircraft in service to 2040, Groesch said. In the Indian tender, the contenders are Boeing’s F/A-18 E/F, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16, MiG 35 and Saab Gripen NG.

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