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Old 26th Jan 2014, 11:14
  #4071 (permalink)  
LowObservable
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Far West Wessex
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Block '61' F-16 are priced at $200million. Each

No, they aren't. (And if they were, it would be a good argument against buying anything from LockMart since it's >2 x the price of an F-15.)

Whether or not the notional $5 billion is correct, the full deal also includes research and development for the Block 61 Mid Life Update and upgrade kits and installation for the existing fleet (60 aircraft minus a few losses).

The UAE is now recognizing the full costs of buying a unique aircraft configuration from a high-cost supplier. When it comes to MLU they have you over a barrel, because your options are to pay up or retire the jets. (If you have a vanilla F-16 you now have a choice between LMT and BAE Systems upgrades, thanks to the ROKs.)

I would be willing to bet that the UAE MLU unit cost will be more than the Swedes pay for turning 60 JAS 39Cs into 39Es (which is basically new airplane apart from the nameplate and a few miscellaneous parts), and it will take longer.
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