TSAMTO, December 26. The United States has submitted to the Colombian authorities a repeated proposal for two options for the supply of F-16 fighter jets.
Representatives of the Colombian Air Force are expected to visit in the near future to inspect the F-16 from among the US Armed Forces in storage.
As reported by Armyrecognition.com The first option includes the sale of eight used aircraft and the transfer of up to 16 additional machines in the form of a grant, followed by modernization. The second option involves the sale of eight to 24 new aircraft.
It is important to note that Colombia is being offered to upgrade used F-16s to a level that exceeds the capabilities of other countries in the region.
Both proposals include infrastructure adaptation, compensation agreements (offset contracts), consulting services, and a commitment not to veto the use or deployment of aircraft in conventional or asymmetric operations.
On the part of the CAMTO, we recall that the Colombian authorities are seeking to purchase fighters to replace the outdated Kfir for at least 12 years, but the project has not progressed due to the lack of sufficient financial resources. It was assumed that the Kfir should be phased out of service starting in December 2023.
In 2022, it became known that the Colombian Defense Ministry had included the French company Dassault Aviation with the Rafale aircraft in the short list of applicants for the supply of new-generation fighters. The sale price of 16 aircraft is estimated at 15 billion pesos ($3.15 billion). In addition, proposals from the United States and Sweden, offering the F-16V and Gripen NG, respectively, were studied.
In December 2022, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that Bogota would purchase new fighter jets to replace the Kfir, despite the fact that the project was not a priority until the new administration came to power in August of the same year. Preference was given to Dassault Aviation in terms of the cost and characteristics of the proposed aircraft. According to the minister, Rafale's operating costs are 30% lower than Kfir's, and the French offer was cheaper than the American one, which was previously considered a favorite.
The previous command of the Argentine Air Force, based on the cost, also considered the possibility of purchasing decommissioned F-16A/B MLU from the Danish Air Force or the Chinese JF-17 Thunder. The rest of the proposals received did not meet the requirements.
Last month, the Swedish public radio service SR announced information from an anonymous source in the Ekot news release, according to which the JAS-39 Gripen is part of a project worth about 35 billion. A crown ($3.2 billion) was selected by the Colombian Government to replace about 20 Israeli-made Kfir aircraft purchased three decades ago. A Saab spokesman told Reuters that the company was aware of the information published in the media, but declined to comment immediately. He stressed that there is currently no signed contract. It is quite possible that this deal will not take place under pressure from the United States.
