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https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... al-462656/03 December, 2019
Romania plans to acquire another five surplus Lockheed Martin F-16s from Portugal –
and will upgrade the 12 examples of the fighter already in its fleet.
Under a draft law passed by the government on 28 November –
still to be ratified by the country’s parliament –
four aircraft will arrive in 2020, with the final example to follow in 2021.
The five new aircraft will have the same M.5.2R configuration as Romania’s existing 12 F-16s,
but Bucharest says all 17 will be raised to a new standard it calls M.6.X.
Romania in 2013 agreed to take its first batch of 12 F-16s –
nine A-model single-seaters and three B-variant twin-seaters –
and took delivery of the initial six aircraft in 2016.
In addition to the dozen F-16s,
the Romanian air force currently operates 17 Mikoyan MiG-21s with an average age of 44.2 years.
Earlier this year, Bucharest indicated that it was seeking
a total of 36 F-16s to replace its elderly MiG-21s.
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