"The details are expensive, the flight time is long": Romania is looking closely at the decommissioned F-16 fighters
In 2013, the Romanian Air Force began updating its fighter fleet, ordering 12 F-16s from Portugal with a relatively good residual operating life of more than 4 thousand flight hours (out of 8 thousand required). Against the background of the massive transition of the Nordic countries to the F-35A, Romania began to look closely at the F-16, which are supposed to be written off in connection with this rearmament.
The conditions for flights in Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, while still using the F-16, are harsh - low temperatures, salty air, sea areas. According to Romania Military, "Northerners are stingy and only buy new things when the old is very close to being drained of exhaustion." The most that can be hoped for when purchasing the F-16 from these countries is to receive vehicles with a long flight time, the stock will be only a few thousand hours. Therefore, in the case of their purchase, the question of spare parts will immediately arise.
As noted in the publication, there is already a negative example with Poland, which purchased 48 F-16 Block50 / 52 aircraft, but during their operation there were serious logistical problems due to spare parts.
There is a simple solution, but very expensive: each operator must have a stock of parts and not rely on their emergency supply from the manufacturer. Otherwise, many, many months may pass before the spare part gets into your hangar. The parts are very expensive and no one produces them, except for a firm order. You need a lot of money to have a normal supply
- listed in Romania Military.
As explained, the Swedish company Saab has come up with a more cost-effective solution and set up common warehouses with spare parts for the Gripen fighter. Each operator invests in restocking and is guaranteed prompt delivery of the required parts.
This decision looks great for peacetime, but in wartime it will turn into a farce.
- the author believes.
Looking closely at the decommissioned F-16s, Romania is trying to find an option to be both cheaper and longer in terms of possible operation, not wanting to spend money on excessively expensive parts and maintenance.
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