PALUBA

Čile ima 16 unapređenih F-5E/F+ Tiger II lakih lovaca koji su veoma stari i planira se njihovo povlaćenje tokom ove godine. Svoje Mirage 50CN Pantera, Čile je već "penzionisao". Ova zemlja traži mogućnost za kupovinu polovnih aviona F-16 kao zamenu da bi održala borbenu lovačku sposobnost....

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Chile Looking to Replace F-5s With More F-16s

01.06.2009
Chile’s 16 upgraded F-5E/F+ Tiger II lightweight fighters are very old, and are slated for decommissioning in 2009. Its Mirage 50CN Panteras have already been retired. The country is looking to used F-16s as a replacement, in order to maintain its fighter strength.

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FACh F-5E

The FACh’s current F-16 fleet currently includes 10 advanced F-16C/D Block 50/52 aircraft bought from the USA, and another 18 F-16A/B Mid-Life Upgrade aircraft bought from the Netherlands for $180 million. Unsurprisingly, Chile believes that a reprise of their Dutch deal would represent a fine solution.


Chilean Modernization & Financing

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FACh Pantera

Chilean military equipment purchases are somewhat unusual, in that they are financed by a set percentage of windfall earnings from copper mining, one of Chile’s major exports. That legislation dates back to Chile’s military dictatorship, and is scheduled to be amended, but the fund created by that arrangement is expected to hit $3 billion in the coming months.

This is so despite a slew of purchases that are modernizing Chile’s armed forces, after a long slump in copper prices that had put a crimp in Chile’s options. The last decade has seen purchases of F-16s, handfuls of Bell 412 and Eurocopter AS535 Super Puma helicopters, a strong core of used Leopard tanks and accompanying Marder IFVs for the Army, plus 2 new Scorpene Class submarines, 8 used frigates, and 3 new C-295 MP maritime patrol aircraft for use along Chile’s long naval frontier.

If the reports of a new F-16 order turn out to be correct, Chile will have ended up replacing its 16-24 recently-retired Mirage 50CN Panteras, and 16 F-5E/F+ fighters, with 46 F-16s.

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Chilean F-16 MLU

DID correspondent Inigo Guevara adds that this purchase marks a significant shift from the Chilean armed forces’ traditional “multiple-source” policy for advanced equipment, towards a single source fighter fleet. This marks an evolution in defense thinking, and he believes that it also signifies total political control over the Chilean armed forces.

He also believes that the decision to buy second hand aircraft is significant for domestic and international reasons. Domestically, it involves standardization on an all-F-16 fighter fleet. This will reduce operations and maintenance costs, but the fact that most of the fleet will be 40 years old by 2020 opens the door for a large-scale next-generation replacement at that time. Internationally, the interesting element is the fact that the purchase:

”...failed to be viewed by its neighbors (specifically Peru) as simply a “watered down stop gap buy” as (completely different from a defense analysis) in the political arena, F-16s are F-16s, no matter if they are 25-year old F-16A/B veterans vs new built F-16C block 52+.”

Izvor: DID