Procurement: September 20, 2001

Archives

MILITARY AIRCRAFT SALES- The Polish Air Force has ordered eight C295 twin-turboprop transports from Spain for delivery in 2003-2005. Turkey wants to lease its 24 oldest F-16s (Block-20s that entered service in 1987) to someone in order to raise $400 million that it would plow into buying 32 new F-16C Block-50s. It has offered the planes to Hungary, Poland, and Austria. Hungary is likely to be the first to make a decision, but it is also considering older leased F-16s from the US and leasing Sweden's oldest JAS-39 Gryphons. Hungary now operates MiG-29s but wants to replace them with Western aircraft. It appears that Hungary will lease the Turkish jets, but only if it can satisfy US requirements that it promise to never resell the aircraft without US permission.--Stephen V Cole