Taiwan seeks 66 F-16 fighters -U.S. official (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

(This is going to be very interesting to watch, if the Bush Cabal delays this, would they go to the Russians too?)

Taiwan seeks 66 F-16 fighters -U.S. official

Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:51pm ET143

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON, July 27 (Reuters) - Taiwan is seeking to buy as many as 66 advanced Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) F-16 fighter aircraft over a period of five to 10 years to guard its skies from any Chinese assault, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Such a deal could be worth as much as $5.5 billion based on prices quoted by the Pentagon last month for up to 36 such F-16s and related gear sought by Pakistan.

Taiwan's Air Force has been pursuing the Block 50/52 F-16C single-seat configuration and F-16D two-seat version for at least a year, said the official, who asked not to be named.

Its "top priority is to protect the skies," said the official. He said the F-16C/Ds would replace the Ching-kuo Indigenous Defense Fighter, F-5 supersonic fighter and perhaps Mirage 2000 multirole fighter built by Dassault of France.

(more at link) <http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=companyNews&storyid=288609+27-Jul-2006+RTRS&WTmodLoc=InvArt-L2-CompanyNews-2>

[Roland99]

1. Everybody's loading up.

:scared:

[Virginia Dare]

2. What will our good friends in China say about this?....n/t

[Up2Late]

3. It's gonna get very ugly I think.

Another trip to Crazytown.

[Vidar]

4. Good. All kinds of ways for geogieboy to fuck this up.

[BrotherBuzz]

5. Venezuela has a couple dozen F-16's they are willing to sell - CHEAP!

:hide:

[Up2Late]

6. Exactly. eom.

:evilgrin: