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Originally Posted by chico20854
According to "Edging into Isolation" in Flight International, March 1989 and "Skyhawk Soars Again" in the December 1988 edition of the same magazine (available at http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi...0-%203548.html) an A-4 scheme fitting new avionics allowed the RNZAF to achieve maritime strike and CAS capability equal to a F-16 at one-sixth of the cost. Given that those upgrades were supposed to finish up in the early 90s and the subsequent aircraft purchases talked about in 1989 were trainers, tankers, transports and avionics upgrades for the P-3 fleet, I think a F-16 buy was off the table until the war in China broke out, by which time it was too late - the Chinese ordered all the F-16s Fort Worth could crank out, and the USAF started impounding most of the production once the slaughter of fighter aircraft began over the Oder. |
Interesting stuff, I'm having a problem opening that article at work but I'll check it out later.
This is way OT and probably should be another thread, but would the USA be selling top of the line F-16's to the PRC, even if it is engaged in open warfare with the Soviet Union?
Again, I'm going to sound like some old codger griping about the good ole' days, but in one of the old threads, someone (Matt Wiser) proposed that F-4s and A-7s from AMARC would be refurbished and sold to the PRC. Someone even posted the AMARC inventory!