Aircraft

Host nation Chile has something to celebrate this year at the bienniel FIDAE air and space show – delivery of its Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 50+ fighters. The first two aircraft arrived at the Chilean air force’s Iquique airbase in January, and all 10 on order will be delivered by year-end.

The six single-seat F-16Cs and four two-seat F-16Ds, powered by General Electric F110-129 engines, were ordered in 2002 under the $547 million Peace Puma programme. The landmark deal ended a 20-year ban on the sale of US weaponry to South America, and the F-16 is viewed as the air force’s “flagship of modernisation”, says Lockheed’s Chile programme director John Balderston.

In addition to the new-build Block 50s, Chile has purchased 18 ex-Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16A/B Block 15s, which have undergone the mid-life update (MLU). These will be delivered from later this year to replace Chile’s Dassault Mirage M5 Elkans and M50 Panteras, now too expensive to maintain.

There has been talk of an “all-F-16” force, Balderston says, but no new order has materialised to replace the air force’s remaining Mirages and Northrop F-5s. Whether Chile will place a follow-on order for new F-16s will depend on how long the line remains open, he says. Production will continue to late 2009 on current orders.

The air force has re-established its 3rd Aviation Group to operate the Block 50 F-16s. Its initial cadre of instructor pilots and maintainers have been trained in the USA and in-country training is now under way using the first two aircraft, which are two-seaters. The next batch of fighters will be delivered in June, says Balderston.

Chilean aerospace company Enaer is being estabished as the depot for the F-16s, and is already under contract to fabricate detailed parts for new F-16s produced by Lockheed Martin. The Dutch are also supplying Pacer Amstel structural upgrade kits for the F-16A/Bs, and these will be installed by Enaer, Balderston says.

Although the two batches of F-16s have different engines, the MLU upgrade gives the A/Bs similar avionics to the C/Ds. “Chile selected the F-16 for its growth potential, affordability and ease of maintenance. The interoperability between the two models gives the opportunity to put them on a common modernisation roadmap,” Balderston says.

Details of the Peace Puma armament package are closely guarded by Chile, although the deal included the purchase of Raytheon AIM-9 short-range and AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles, Boeing JDAM precision-guided bombs and Northrop Grumman Ligthening tageting pods. Lockheed has also cleared unspecified Chile-specific weapons on the F-16.