Makes me wonder how much does it cost to get or upgrade to F16V? I know its hard to calculate with all those training/munition/logistics etc, but lets take a look at view of the latest F16V block 70 purchase by others. Here is what I found from mbah google: (disclaimer* numbers of purchase/price and source might not be accurate)
- Bulgaria (2019) ; 8 Viper for $512 mil = @$64 mil. No mentioning about munition/training/logistics/etc
- Bahrain (2018) ; 16 Viper for $1.1 bil = @$69 mil. LM contract to build aircraft & support. But they also upgrade their 20 fighters of F16 block 40 to F16V for $1.082 bil which include new engines, avionics and an active electronically scanned array radar system.
- Taiwan (2019) ; 66 Viper for $8 bil = @121mil. Including spare parts
- Slovakia (2019) ; 14 Viper for $800 mil = @57 mil. Production and support.
- Morocco (2019) ; 25 Viper for $3.787 mil = @151 mil. Include - 30 M61 Al Vulcan 20mm Guns (includes 5 spares), 40 AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 60 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs, 26 AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Pods, spares, practice equipment, management systems, navigation equipment, support and integration and U.S. government and contractor engineering and logistical support services. She also upgrade 23 of their F16 to Viper standard for $985 mil.
So to upgrade 20 block 32/40 to Viper standard its going to cost around $1billion.
To get 1 Skadron (16 fighters) if we follow Bahrain price its equal to $1.1bil prolly more with parts and stuff.
36 Viper of mix new/used might be around $2.5bil (with some parts). Decent number for its capability and quantity I must say tho I doubt our budget for Viper purchase exceeding that number, prolly @1.5bil at most.
