Netherlands sells Chile 18 F-16s

[signatory]

THE HAGUE (AFP) Dec 16, 2005
Chile is to buy 18 F-16 warplanes from the Netherlands air force, which is getting rid of a number that are surplus to requirements, the Dutch defence ministry said Friday.
The deal was agreed during a visit to The Hague by Chilean Defence Minister Jaime Ravinet de la Fuente on Thursday and Friday, the ministry said.

The Chilean minister was also to take formal possession of two Dutch navy frigates that have been sold to Santiago.

The Netherlands is disposing of 29 of its 137 US-designed F-16s. Three were recently sold to Jordan.
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I'll be damned.

[Greek soldier]

And our wise politicians turned them down... Not only the Dutch F-16 were cheaper but also had commonality with our F-16 Block 52+.
But again, politics, politics, politics...

[pelao]

Welcome F-16!!!! They are arriving in the best moment because we have a neighbor willing to move maritime border.

[Resurrection]

Great news! How many F-16 fighters does Chile have, excluding these Dutch ones? Sweden is also looking for countries who are interested in purchasing Gripen A/B's which are left over after the budget cuts. Could be an alternative for the air forces that don't have that big of a budget and are in need of a capable fighter...

[Greek soldier]

Hope these Gripens can be modified to the C/D versions (bigger colour displays, AA refueling capability etc.).

[Cygnus]

Great news! How many F-16 fighters does Chile have, excluding these Dutch ones? Sweden is also looking for countries who are interested in purchasing Gripen A/B's which are left over after the budget cuts. Could be an alternative for the air forces that don't have that big of a budget and are in need of a capable fighter...


If the Philippine economy improves soon, we might go for the surplus Gripens. Honestly the Philippines could afford the surplus, its just that government does not have the will and does not see the need to arm our armed forces... I guess they will but it just might be to late...

2011, a few more years and we might buy them as long as they are still for sale... Wish they increase the Defence Budget from 1% of the economy to 2.5%.

[pelao]

Great news! How many F-16 fighters does Chile have, excluding these Dutch ones? Sweden is also looking for countries who are interested in purchasing Gripen A/B's which are left over after the budget cuts. Could be an alternative for the air forces that don't have that big of a budget and are in need of a capable fighter...

We also bought 10 new units to USA (F16 C/D Block 50). They will arrive starting 2006. It means we gonna have 28 units which appears enough for our country.

In effect Grippen was one of the options, but government decided upon F16.

[FDF_Hemppis]

Great news! How many F-16 fighters does Chile have, excluding these Dutch ones? Sweden is also looking for countries who are interested in purchasing Gripen A/B's which are left over after the budget cuts. Could be an alternative for the air forces that don't have that big of a budget and are in need of a capable fighter...

I see Finland fitting that description! p-)
But not gonna happen :(

Someone's probably gonna get quite capable planes for very low $$$.

[futurepilot2004]

We could afford them but our leaders don`t believe we need jets(except the ones to fly them around of course)

[signatory]

We also bought 10 new units to USA (F16 C/D Block 50). They will arrive starting 2006. It means we gonna have 28 units which appears enough for our country.

In effect Grippen was one of the options, but government decided upon F16.

US ex-prez Jimmy Carter once pleaded to the Swedish government to not sell Gripen jets to Chile when it was negotiations at that time... 1999 or something like that... he didnt think Chile needed a airforce or something like that. :roll:

[pelao]

US ex-prez Jimmy Carter once pleaded to the Swedish government to not sell Gripen jets to Chile when it was negotiations at that time... 1999 or something like that... he didnt think Chile needed a airforce or something like that. :roll:

Yeah, but that was some time ago, when Pinochet was still a nightmare for us. Actually, democracy is installed, this is the best place to live in this side of the world, and of course we need to replace our old air force.

[Hemaworstje]

great news, they even closed our airborne base in Twente , due to reshuffling of what's left, so less noise in the summer, Thanks Chile , you got them for a bargain , well maintained, .all it needs is a paintjob.
and now we need to buy some new ones, let's see we did a pre order JSF's but hmm.. the Netherlands is tricky flying , if you do a sonic boom here you wake up the entire country...

[sp2c]

at 10 million a piece I would hardly call them a bargain ... about the same we paid for them :D

even though they've been upgraded quite a bit, they are still very agiing airframes because our airforfes abused them too much :)