chopper2004,
This is not the first time F-16 has been in our thoughts.
Not in MOD's thoughts, chopper old chap! Just in the thoughts of one mischief-making and then soon to be retired Air Marshal (Wh**ky W*lk*r) who along with Portillo's once bankrupt and re-generated multi-millionaire military adviser (the late David Hart) thought that F-16 was a better platform than EFA (now Typhoon). They also had the ill-found notion that the planned SR(A1236), now Storm Shadow, would be better launched from underneath a main spar strengthened Tristar! I know this is true because I was summoned to Portaloo's office on the 6th floor to brief him and them on SR(A)1236 and refute their argument!
They were doing nothing more than being a disruptive influence and mischief making to their own advantage!
I would not, therefore, put any credence in the notion that 'the MOD' had F-16 in its thoughts in the 90s. The offer you mention had been stoked by the AM (who had nothing to do with procurement at the time) and Hart talking out of turn with the USAF!
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