The replacement of Soviet-made MiG-21 Lancer fighters with second-hand U.S. F-16 Falcon jets will cost Romania around $1.3 billion, the Romanian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
The Romanian government will send a proposal to acquire 24 used F-16 fighters to parliament for a vote after the Supreme Defense Council, headed by President Traian Basescu, approved the plan late on Tuesday.
"The project's price is around $1.3 billion and includes the purchase of 24 updated and fully equipped jets, technical support for 3-5 years, logistic support, flight simulators, pilots and staff training, and transportation," the statement said.
The service life of several dozen MiG-21 fighter jets, developed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the mid-1950s and upgraded for the Romanian Air Force by Elbit of Israel and Aerostar S.A. of Romania in the 1990's, expires in 2013.
According to open sources, only 48 MiG-21s are still in service with the Romanian Air Force.
Unofficial media reports earlier said that the U.S. government was ready to give the F-16s for free, if Romania would take responsibility for modernizing them, training the pilots and upgrading flight strips to accommodate the jets.
Romania, a former Warsaw Pact member which joined NATO in 2004, has been seeking closer ties with its more powerful Western allies, especially the United States, to recover from the current deep economic crisis.
In February, Bucharest offered the United States to host U.S. medium-range interceptor missiles as part of revamped shield after U.S. President Barack Obama scrapped the Bush administration plans for a radar and interceptor missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland last year.
Romania's move has irked Russia, which considers the placement of U.S. missile defenses near its borders as a threat to national security.
MOSCOW, March 25 (RIA Novosti)
