Acquisition of second – hand F16 jets from Portugal, again on Romania's agenda, for over EUR 600 million

A plan to purchase second hand F16 multi-role planes will again be on the discussion agenda in Romania's next Supreme Defense Council CSAT meeting. This time, Romania plans to buy the second hand planes from the Portuguese Government, and the total financial effort will reach some EUR 638 million between 2013 and 2017. The number was included in a memorandum discussed in the most recent Government meeting on Wednesday, June 12. The document proposes that the funds for this acquisition come from the Ministry of Defense budget. CSAT approved the project to expand air defense capacity in September last year, when the resources had been found to buy 12 second-hand F16 planes. Romania would start to pay for the planes in 2013 and receive deliveries in 2016. Romania has to buy second – hand planes, which will be however prepared to last for another 20 years, as it cannot afford to buy new ones. The acquisition of F16 jets was also discussed by Romanian President Traian Basescu and US President Barack Obama when Basescu made a visit to Washington DC. A plan including Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria, all to purchase such planes, was yet to be finalized at the time. The regional plan would have reduced the costs of the project for both the planes themselves and the pilots' training. In 2010, the Romanian Government canceled purchase plans for the 24 F-16 used planes from the US. The country's Supreme Defense Council had approved a purchase plan of EUR 1.3 billion, but Romania decided to temporarily halt it due to lack of funds. Earlier this year, news surfaced that Romania was negotiating with Greece and Portugal to buy used planes from them. editor@romania-insider.com