Today, Draken US signed contracts for the purchase of twelve F-16 A/B MLUs that are being decommissioned by the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
Today, Draken signed a contract for the procurement of F-16s & supporting equipment with the Government of the Netherlands. This culminates a tremendous effort put forth by both the Dutch Ministry of Defense & Draken. pic.twitter.com/t6GoiIuMVa
— Draken US (@draken_us) December 1, 2021
As we announced on June 30, the giant adversary air support contractor and the Government of the Netherlands had reached an agreement for the sale of a dozen F-16s that will be decommissioned as they are replaced by the F-35.
The amount of the contract is still unknown, but it was confirmed that it contemplates the purchase of the 12 aircraft and their support equipment. Defense Secretary Barbara Visser had reported at the time that the aircraft would begin to be received by Draken starting in 2022 and that a clause would be included giving the company the option to buy another 28 F-16s, which will be phased out by 2024.
Under the F-16 End Life of Type (ELOT) phase-out plan, the transfer of all aircraft to Volkel Air Base is underway. From there, the F-16s will operate for another two years before they are retired.
The equipment is in serviceable condition and will be sold and transferred in its current condition, except that the Ministry of Defense will dismantle a number of items prior to transfer, as classified material.
In this way, Draken, one of the main beneficiaries of the U$S 6.4 billion USAF aggressor mega contract, follows in the footsteps of Top Aces (which bought 29 ex-Israeli F-16s) and becomes the second private company to dispose of this agile and dangerous single-engine fighter.
Draken now has an impressive fleet of Aero L-39 and L-159E, A-4 Skyhawk, MiG-21Bis/MF/UM, Atlas Cheetah and its latest acquisition, 22 Mirage F-1M ex-Spanish Air Force. The F-16s will be the company’s first fourth-generation fighters, which will likely be upgraded with the latest electronic equipment (such as modern AESA radars and ECM) to provide a very high and realistic level of adversary training.
