BAE Systems is looking to Greece, Turkey and Chile as the next likely targets for its assault into the market for upgrades of legacy Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters.
John Bean, vice-president and general manager global fighter programmes, says BAE has already held discussions with those nations, encouraging them to look at other options apart from Lockheed for upgrades.
“Right now we’re making sure they know there is a choice,” he says. Another three to four nations have also engaged in preliminary talks, says Bean, although declines to identify them.
BAE to break into the upgrade market in 2012 when it won a contract to upgrade South Korea’s KF-16s with new avionics, mission systems and Raytheon’s RACR radar.
The first two aircraft, which are being used for design and development work, were recently inducted to its Alliance airport facility in Fort Worth. They are expected to be re-delivered to Seoul in 2018.
Bean adds that while the US Defence Security and Cooperation Agency has started the process of tendering for upgrades to Singapore’s Block 52 F-16s, “they’ve taken a pause” while the requirements are further refined.
In the meantime, BAE has responded to a request for information issued earlier this year by the Athens government and now expects a formal tender to proceed by year-end.
Despite the appeal of fifth-generation fighters, Bean says that budgetary pressure means that most air forces will continue to operate fourth-generation types for some time. That could leave a potential market for up to 1,300 aircraft that will require upgrades over the next 10 years.
“As the new airplanes are substantially more expensive than the airplanes they were replacing, countries are deciding to keep their existing planes longer, so we’re looking at a hybrid fourth-generation/fifth-generation sustainment that will go on for some time,” he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
