Fighter jet contract goes down

Copenhagen Post ^ | 3/16/2010 | Copenhagen Post

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

The Joint Strike Fighter saga has apparently come to an end after several years of negotiations with the US government

After a week where it was announced there would be yet another price increase for potential buyers, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is no longer being considered by the Danish Defence Command as a replacement for its aging F-16s war planes, reports public broadcaster DR.

Since negotiations for purchasing the planes began in 1999 between Denmark and US Department of Defense – which has been heavily involved in the development of the Lockheed Martin jet – the cost of a single plane has risen from around 275 million kroner to 540 million.

The JSF project has been plagued with problems since its inception. The original release date for the plane was set for 2012, although now US officials say the jet will not be ready until 2016. In addition, the project took a major hit last month when the man heading it was fired by US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates,due to the jet’s continued development delays.

Despite having invested considerably in the JSF project – with several companies securing eventual work contracts for the planes should they have been purchased – the Danish government is now leaning toward Boeing’s F-18 Superhornet as its preferred choice.

In April last year, Boeing promised to ensure orders worth up to 20 billion kroner for Danish companies if the military purchased the company’s Superhornet model.

A decision on which jet will replace the F-16s is expected to be made by parliament some time in 2012

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[DesScorp]

And the first domino in the final fall of the Joint Strike Failure begins...

[spetznaz]

1. As another FReeper said, the dominoes start to fall

2. On another note, a question arises as to why they are replacing the Vipers with SuperHornets rather than with a fresh batch of 52s or even 60s? This is a question that LockMart must surely be hoping that India, which is considering the F-16IN (a block 60 variant) for its 126 aircraft (maybe up to 200) multi-billion Dollar deal, doesn't think about.

They definitely will ...adding another nail to the Viper deal on top of the fact that Pakistani uses Viper variants, as well as the fact that there are other, better, offers on the table.

[Vroomfondel]

ping

[magslinger]

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[Yo-Yo]

2. On another note, a question arises as to why they are replacing the Vipers with SuperHornets rather than with a fresh batch of 52s or even 60s?

That's an excellent question. Given their familarity with the type, it would lower retraining costs, and the Block 60 ain't your Fader's F-16.

[DesScorp]

" On another note, a question arises as to why they are replacing the Vipers with SuperHornets rather than with a fresh batch of 52s or even 60s? "

That's an excellent question. I could venture a couple of guesses. One, maybe there's some distrust with LockMart over their deception about JSF progress and pricing. Maybe LockMart is talking about cutting the F-16 line, the better to push wary customers into the JSF. And then there's what Boeing has going for it; a price comparable to F-16's, but with two engines, and a much better radar (especially for sea search modes, which would come in very handy for the Dutch).