Venezuela May Sell Its U.S.-Made F-16s to Iran

Drudge

[Don Corleone]

bump

[Sooth2222]

Not to mention that F16 parts are likely unavailable on E-bay.

(So we, in effect, cut off his parts supply, and so he's selling them to Iran, and the Iranians are going to pay him actual real money for these hangar-queens??? Or am I missing something here? Am I stupid or are the Iranians incredibly stupid?)

[Billthedrill]

The Iranians used to have some pretty good pilots...before they stood them up against the wall and shot them. I'm trying to think of any of their likely opponents who wouldn't eat their current crop for breakfast. Maybe the Pakistanis. Maybe not.

[West Coast Conservative]

Venezuela may sell U.S. jets to Iran, others

Venezuela's military is considering the possibility of selling its fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, perhaps Iran, a Venezuelan military official said Tuesday.

In response to a U.S. ban on arms sales to President Hugo Chavez's government, Gen. Alberto Muller, a senior adviser to Chavez, told The Associated Press he had recommended to the defense minister that Venezuela consider selling the 21 jets to another country.

Muller said he thought it was worthwhile to consider "the feasibility of a negotiation with Iran for the sale of those planes."

Even before the United States announced the ban on arms sales Monday, Washington had stopped selling Venezuela sensitive upgrades for the F-16s.

Chavez previously has warned he could share the U.S. jets with Cuba if Washington does not supply parts for the planes.

He also has said he may look into buying fighter jets from Russia or China instead.

[Red Badger]

And the pilot would be back in time for morning coffee break.........

[Bikers4Bush]

The iranians aren't stupid, they're insane.

[One4Indictment]

What do U.S. fighter pilots call Iranian fighter pilots?

SKEET!!

[roaddog727]

And boink the Mrs./girlfriend to boot!

[hershey]

We're going to have to do something about that cockroach.

[Oztrich Boy]

I imagine that they would use them for spare parts. The Iranians have quite a few old US planes.

Grumman F-14 Tomcats, McDonnell-Douglas F=4 Phantom IIs, Northrop F-5 Tigers.

Can't imagine they'd get any parts of a General Dynamics F=16 that'd be of any help.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Toast............no big deal.

[vin-one]

sounds like good target practice to our highly trained pilots......

[oldbill]

"How well-maintained are they? Are Iranian pilots any good? Do they have spare parts?"

Based on the experience of what the mullahs did to the F-14's bought by the Shah:
-poorly maintained
-poorly flown
-poorly spared.

Let them have the F-16s - they will be hangar queens in short order, and removed from our new Castro's mischief.

[SolidSupplySide]

This is just more shock and awe from the wack jobs who keep driving up the price of oil

What does the Federal Reserve have to do with this?

[Snickersnee]

Hey, F-16 Freepers: can an F-16 of that type span the Natal-Dakar gap?

[Snickersnee]

Hey, F-16 Freepers: can an F-16 of that type span the Natal-Dakar gap?

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

[I am 100% certain that there is a no transfer clause in the contract that Venezuela signed when they purchased them. They risk having them shot down or destroyed on the ground if they try this.]

These jets are high maintenance machines. If they don't have a reliable supply of spare parts, they will just sit on the ground.

Selling the jet would be a political move, and would cause no danger to the US.

[Fruitbat]

LOL. Are these the ones that we sold to them in the '80s?

We never sell out top-level avionics et al. systems along with these planes.

A F-16 with a less trained pilot minus all the systems that we have can be shot down just as easily by anyone with current aircraft.

Even if true, unless there's something untypical here, there shouldn't be much of a concern.

[Oztrich Boy]

Based on the experience of what the mullahs did to the F-14's bought by the Shah:
-poorly maintained
-poorly flown
-poorly spared.

Number of Military forces flying the F-14 today - one

Number other than Iran - zero,

[Ben Mugged]

How well-maintained are they? Are Iranian pilots any good? Do they have spare parts?

Not well maintained. We haven't provided upgrades for several generations. They don't have spares. Iran has better things to do with their money and better sources for weapons than buying them on the "used weapons" bazaar.

I trained Iranian pilots before the fall of the Shaw. Not good pilots.