Belgian F-16
Belgium was one of four European members of the NATO F-16 partnership, and one of two responsible for the European production of F-16s. The primary Belgian contractor in the F-16 program was the Societe Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aeronautiques (SABCA), which was responsible for the final assembly of F-16s intended for both Belgian and Danish service. Fabrique National manufactured the F100 engines for the F-16s of all four nations in the European consortium. In early 1978, the first European F-16 assembly line opened at SABCA, followed by the first flight of a Belgian-built F-16 in December 1978. As stated in the 10 June 1975 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the objectives of the European Participating Governments USAF-EPG F-16 program were (1) to acquire a low cost, easily maintained aircraft with advanced avionics and weapons capability; (2) to standardize fighter aircraft in NATO, thus contributing to greater NATO rationalization, standardization, and interoperability (RSI); (3) to allow the EPG countries to acquire advanced technology; and (4) to make optimum use of EPG industrial, economic, and technical resources in the production of the aircraft.
The original Belgian Air Force (BAF) purchase under the terms of this MOU was for 116 F-16 A/B aircraft at a purchase price of $949 million, with significant Belgian industry coproduction and indirect offsets written into the program. Under the terms of the MOU, the U.S. contractors were to place contracts with industry in the participating EPG countries equal to 58 percent of the procurement value of the 348 EPG and 650 USAF aircraft, with an additional guarantee of offsets equaling 15 percent of any third country sales of the F-16.
Specific Belgian co-production arrangements of the original purchase included the mate through delivery of the 116 Belgian and 58 Danish aircraft, the final assembly of the engine, major airframe components manufactured for the USAF original 650 aircraft acquisition, and the continued co-production of major airframe components and subsystems for third country aircraft in quantities commensurate with the achievement of offset credit equal to 15 percent of their procurement value.
In addition, in 1982 Belgium agreed to purchase an additional 44 F-16 aircraft at a purchase price of $632 million, which included indirect offsets of 22 percent and direct offsets of 58 percent of the procurement value. Belgian industrial participation for this follow-on buy was similar to the original arrangement, with continued mate through delivery of the BAF planes, final assembly of Pratt & Whitney F-100 engines, manufacture of aircraft fuselages, wings and engine modules for both the BAF and USAF aircraft, and additional work in the manufacture of airframe subcomponents and subsystems for BAF, USAF, and third country aircraft.
The aircraft was accepted by the Belgian Air Force in January 1979. This was the first locally built F-16 to be delivered to a European operator. The original Belgian order was for 116 F-16 aircraft. Beginning in September 1981, 35 early-production Belgian F-16s were rotated back through the SABCA factory for cockpit modifications and avionics updates. The modifications effectively brought the aircraft to Block 10 standards. Delivery of these first 116 aircraft to the Belgian Air Force was completed in May 1985. A follow-on order of 44 Block 15 Operations Capability Upgrade (OCU) aircraft was placed in February 1983 and delivered between 1987 and 1991.
SABCA Charleroi plant became a global key-player for the Depot-level maintenance and upgrade of F-16 aircraft, serving nine different F-16 customers around the world. Beside the continuous support to Belgium's and other European’s F-16 fleets, SABCA ensures the Depot-Level MRO of the USAF F-16 operated in the European theatre. The choice made last year by the US Government to extend for another 5 years its co-operation with SABCA demonstrates SABCA's abilities to provide accurate, on-time, competitive answers to the most demanding requirements.
SABCA's undisputed leadership in F-16 Depot-Level Support in Europe is strengthened by a State-of-the Art F-16 wings repair shop, relying on in-house detailed wing parts manufacturing capability.
The sheer magnitude of the BAF F-16 program, both in terms of dollar value and involvement of Belgian defense industries in a major coproduction arrangement, clearly made it the most important security assistance program between the US and Belgium. More importantly, however, were the program objectives which recognized that due to the tremendous costs of sophisticated weapons systems and the impact which these costs can have on a country's defense planning, the "old" method of business wherein countries came to the US via the "one-way street" of FMS sales was no longer necessarily operative. Terms such as NATO RSI, technology transfer, and coproduction had now become the watchwords for conducting business in the arms transfer arena, and the use of formal MOUs, such as the one establishing the F-16 program, became indispensible to the conduct of cooperative efforts in defense procurement.
In 1977, the Culver-Nunn Amendment to the Defense Appropriation Authorization Act (P.L. 94-361) authorized DOD to make exceptions to the Buy American Act and similar legislation in order to promote a "two-way street" concept of cooperation in defense procurement among NATO allies to further NATO RSI as a means of improving military readiness among the Alliance. In 1983, the Roth-Glenn-Nunn Amendment (P.L. 97-252) reaffirmed this commitment to NATO cooperation and became the foundation of DOD's MOU program of bilateral procurement agreements with NATO allies. While these MOUs do not guarantee business or defense procurement contracts to foreign defense firms, they did provide an opportunity for U.S. and allied industry to compete for defense business with lowered legal obstacles on both sides.
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