Belgium is in the middle of a major revamp of its air force and is planning to replace the ageing F-16 fighter fleet, which was designed and built in the US.
Belgium has opened a 3.5 billion dollar tender for the replacement ageing F-16 fighter fleet with new multi-role aircraft. The current 54 F16 Fighter jets will be replaced by 34 new multi-role Aircraft
Belgium government has shown interest in buying F35 fighter. The Government of Belgium has requested united states of America to buy thirty-four (34) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft, on the other hand, Great Britain, which is buying the US-made F-35 fighter jet, is urging European neighbour Belgium not to buy the US-made F-35 fighter jet. Instead, the British government is lobbying Belgium to buy 34 British-built Eurofighter Typhoons.
US state department has approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Belgium of thirty-four (34) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing aircraft for an estimated cost of $6.53 billion.
The Government of Belgium has requested to buy thirty-four (34) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft, and — thirty-eight (38) Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines (34 installed, 4 spares).
The Government of Belgium has requested to buy thirty-four (34) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Conventional Take Off and Landing (CTOL) aircraft, and — thirty-eight (38) Pratt & Whitney F-135 engines (34 installed, 4 spares).
The Ministry of Defence of United kingdom is publicly lobbying Belgium to buy British Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet .Air Vice Marshal Keith Bethell, the director of combat air kit in the MoD’s equipment arm, said in a canned quote:
“Our world-class Typhoon has led the way in combat air power and this demonstrates the continued confidence in the capability the Typhoon has to offer. With more than 20,000 flying hours on global operations to date, the Typhoon offers unparalleled reliability and proven interoperability with our allies.”
The MoD is also trying to tempt Belgium away from the Yanks by dangling “integration with the RAF’s Typhoon support arrangements” as well as a “training partnership”, which could mean an integrated UK-Belgium squadron of the sort proposed to Qatar.
Also included in the deal is a proposal for Belgium to form “a National Network Cyber Centre, a Cyber Innovation Centre and a Cyber Research Partnership” with the UK, which may or may not trigger memories of the time Britain’s GCHQ hacked Belgium’s biggest mobile network operator. Belgium is HQ for the European Union, various NATO command and control facilities, and also for some of the UN’s European presences.
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