Lockheed Claims Mystery African State is Planning an F-16V Purchase - Which Could it Be?

A recent report from the world’s largest defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin has indicated that despite its considerable age, a number of countries in Asia and Africa are interested in acquiring the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The F-16 first entered service in 1978, and was designed as a lighter and cheaper counterpart to the F-15 Eagle. Lockheed indicated that an unnamed African state had shown interest in the aircraft, leading to widespread speculation as to which this could be. Two African countries currently operate the F-16 - Morocco and Egypt - with the U.S. in 2019 approving the sale of additional aircraft. While Egypt is an unlikely client for the fighters, a number of Western-aligned African states could be interested in the jets. Angola its a leading potential client, and while it has for decades been a leading operator of Russian and Soviet fighter jets including recently received Su-30 fighters, its new government has shown a strong inclination to realign with the Western Bloc. The country’s large defence budget can facilitate an F-16 purchase - possibly to replace older classes of fighter from a similar weight range such as the MiG-23.

Ethiopia is another potential client, and has seen rising tensions with neighbouring Egypt and also has an ageing MiG-23 fleet which will require replacement in the coming years. Libya too could be a potential client given its GNA government’s close alignment with the Western Bloc, although fighters are unlikely to be delivered until after the current civil war due to an ongoing arms embargo. Placing orders for the F-16V could be a way for the Libyan GNA to gain American favour and much needed support in its current conflict. The defence budgets of most other African states rules out an F-16V purchase - and while Nigeria has a relatively large budget it has recently purchased Chinese JF-17 fighters from the same weight range meaning it is unlikely to show interest in the F-16.

Although the U.S. Military has not shown an interest in acquiring F-16s for some years due to the design’s considerable age, the F-16V is currently in production in the United States for export to third world clients. Upgrades to the design have been relatively conservative, with no reductions to the platform’s radar cross section, no stealth coatings, and no new engines meaning its performance is in many respects unchanged. Improvements for the V variant have been restricted to sensors and avionics. Previous clients for the jets have included Taiwan, Slovakia, Bahrain and Bulgaria. The F-16 design is increasingly considered obsolete, with a number of states such as Israel, Egypt and Singapore moving to phase the jets out of service. The U.S. Air Force is planning to replace a large proportion of its F-16 fleet with stealth F-35A fighters, and many F-16s have been repurposed into QF-16 drones and used for target practice to test new air to air munitions.