An F-16 operated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force takes off for a mission. (Photo: USAF/Staff Sgt Tyler McLain)
The US State Department on 3 February approved a potential $4.21 billion FMS deal to sell modernised F-16C/D fighter aircraft to the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF), with Lockheed Martin named as prime contractor.
Jordan has requested 12 F-16Cs and four F-16Ds upgraded to the Block 70 (F-16V) configuration plus a plethora of associated subsystems and weapons, training services and logistical support.
Examples include General Electric F100-GE-129D or Pratt & Whitney F100-PW229EEP engines (one for each aircraft plus five spares); Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 AESA Scalable Agile Beam Radar systems; Lockheed Martin AN/AAQ-33 Sniper advanced targeting pods; and Link 16 low-volume terminals for aircraft and ground stations.
Other aspects of the proposed FMS include 72 LAU-129 launchers for AIM-9 and AIM-120 air-to-air missiles; 21 M61A1 Vulcan cannons; 402 FMU-139 or FMU-152 joint programmable fuzes; MK-82, MK-84, BLU-111 or BLU-117 inert bombs; and guidance kits for JDAM smart bombs such as the GBU-10, GBU-31, GBU-54 and Enhanced Paveway II.
Shephard Defence Insight notes that Jordan took delivery of a total of 79 F-16A/B fighter jets between 1997 and 2017 through the Peace Falcon I-VI programmes. A total of 47 of these aircraft will remain in service until 2025-2027.
The company has tested over 15 mission sets for the drone, with the rotorcraft used to demonstrate the viability of armed forces utilising large uncrewed aerial systems’ (UAS) for autonomous missions in the future.
The US Navy’s answer to a sixth-generation fighter has experienced a range of setbacks and delays to the programme, with only $47 million in this latest proposed budget set aside for completing the aircraft.
The UAE’s Edge Group has been positioning itself as a key defence and technology partner to Indonesia, where it has been focusing on naval platforms, UAVs and long-term industrial collaboration.
With roughly 80% of combat missions flown by Typhoons in Europe, the Eurofighter consortium is emphasising the continued relevance of its jet and wants to ramp up production to continue to deliver combat mass in light of a shifting geo-political world order.
In the past 18 months, Boeing’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat uncrewed aerial system (UAS) has achieved several milestones including teaming with manned aircraft, achieving 100 flight hours and training of first military pilot.
The order for two more aircraft for the NATO Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport (MRTT) fleet comes as Airbus considers increasing A330 MRTT production to meet demand.
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