US Foreign Military Sales

Oooops! That was expensive if it was still in Boeing's hands.

Lucas Tomlinson
@LucasFoxNews
·
1h
BREAKING: F-15 fighter jet crashes outside St. Louis Tuesday morning at MidAmerica Airport. Both pilot and weapon weapons system officer ok after ejecting, one has 'minor injuries.' F-15 was a brand new QA version made for Qatar, officials say

Taiwan acquires HIMARS and Harpoon mobile missile systems

The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (Taiwan) announced on June 17, 2021 that it had signed agreements with the US government on the purchase of shipments of Lockheed Martin M142 HIMARS missile systems (in the amount of 9.62 billion Taiwanese dollars, or 346.3 million US dollars) and mobile coastal anti-ship missile systems Boeing Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems (HCDS) (in the amount of 39 billion Taiwan dollars, or 1.406 billion US dollars).

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4334919.html

Switzerland signed an agreement on the acquisition of American F-35A fighters and Patriot air defense

Swiss defense procurement agency Armasuisse November 26, 2021 reported that agreed with the American fighter of the fifth generation of the US government the terms of agreements for the purchase by Swiss Armed Forces of 36 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II within Air2030 program (aka Neues Kampfflugzeug - NKF) and 5 American anti-aircraft missile systems (batteries) Raytheon Patriot under the Bodengestützte-Luft-Verteidigung (Bodluv) program. Contracts for their purchase were concluded under the American program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) in the form of an exchange of letters LOA (Letters of Offer and Acceptance), with the signing of the LOA by the American side. As soon as the LOA is signed by the Swiss side, the agreements will take effect.

According to Armasuisse, the final agreed contract value for the purchase was 6.035 billion CHF for the F-35A aircraft and 1.987 billion CHF for the Patriot systems, at an exchange rate of CHF 0.95 per US dollar.

According to the value of the agreement for the purchase of F-35A aircraft, the following breakdown is given:

• 3.828 billion Swiss francs for 36 F-35A aircraft itself;

• 1.927 billion Swiss francs for a logistics package including ground equipment, spare parts, documentation, training and technical support from the manufacturer;

• 107 million Swiss francs for ammunition;

• 86 million Swiss francs for training, mission planning and evaluation systems;

• CHF 82 million to cover potential technical risks: F-35As are being procured in the same configuration as other countries and the manufacturer will manufacture the aircraft using the same standards and procedures used for ghjbpdjlcndf over 3,000 aircraft. This means that the risk premium is expected to be low compared to other procurement projects;

• CHF 5 million to account for the expected inflation rate. Inflation only affects the direct subcontracting part of the transaction in Switzerland, that is, RUAG.

Armasuisse said that offsetting obligations in the total amount of 4.2 billion Swiss francs were agreed with the American side under both contracts, including 1 billion Swiss francs will be direct orders placed by American manufacturers from Swiss companies.

Earlier, in a referendum on September 27, 2020, voters in Switzerland with a small majority supportedthe program for the purchase of new fighters and air defense systems, with a budget limit of 6 billion francs for the first program (6.314 billion francs, taking into account the projected inflation rate for the payment schedule until 2031) and 2 billion francs for the second. Thus, now Armasuisse declares that it falls within the limits approved by the referendum. In fact, there is a clear slyness behind this, since, as you can see, F-35A aircraft are purchased practically without weapons.

Delivery of F-35A aircraft and Patriot air defense systems of the Swiss Air Force is expected in the period from 2025 to 2030. It is assumed that the service life of the purchased F-35A fighters in the Swiss Air Force will be at least 30 years, and more likely until 2070. Switzerland became the 15th foreign customer for the F-35.


From the side of bmpd, recallthat on June 30, 2021, the Swiss government (Federal Council) decided to purchase for the Swiss armed forces 36 American fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters under the Air2030 (NKF) program and five American Raytheon Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems under the Bodengestützte program -Luft-Verteidigung (Bodluv). The relevant decisions were presented to the Swiss Parliament for approval.

At the same time, it was stated that both American proposals at the time of submission in February 2021 were the cheapest among the competitors in the tender for these programs. The cost of the proposal for the purchase of 36 F-35A aircraft was then declared 5.068 billion Swiss francs (5.47 billion dollars, as a result, in the contract agreement it increased by 1 billion Swiss francs), and the cost of the proposal for the purchase of five Patriot air defense systems was 1.97 billion Swiss francs ($ 2.13 billion). The life cycle cost of 36 F-35A aircraft over a projected 30-year service life in the Swiss Air Force was estimated at 15.5 billion francs, 2 billion less than the next highest bidder.

It was reported that in a competitive evaluation in Switzerland, the F-35A scored 336 points, which is 95 points more than the next candidate. At the same time, the F-35A was in the lead in three of the four main criteria of requirements (efficiency, technical support, interoperability), and was second only in the offer of a compensation offset package. However, the Swiss government noted that compensation of 60 percent of the contract value must be "fully honored" no later than four years after the last F-35A was delivered.

P about the program Air2030 ( the NKF) The Swiss government intended to purchase 36 to 40 new fighters worth up to CHF 6 billion to replace the current Swiss Air Force combat aircraft fleet of 30 Boeing F / A-18C / D Hornet fighters and 24 Northrop F-5E / F Tiger II fighters ... At the same time, under the Bodengestützte-Luft-Verteidigung (Bodluv) program, it is planned to purchase medium and long-range anti-aircraft missile systems, for which it was planned to spend up to 2 billion Swiss francs (now Switzerland does not have such systems in service).

In July 2018 and January 2020, Armasuisse sent out requests for proposals through the NKF program to manufacturers of four types of fighters: Boeing F / A-18E / F Super Hornet Block III, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II. At the same time, a request for proposals was sent out under the Bodluv program for the acquisition of Eurosam SAMP / T and Raytheon Patriot air defense systems.

Now Switzerland is making its second attempt to acquire new fighters - after the 2009-2011 tender, in which the Dassaul Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab JAS-39E Gripen NG aircraft participated. Although then the Swiss Air Force, based on the test results of all three types, unofficially leaned towards the Rafale aircraft, which showed the best scoring characteristics in a comparative analysis, however, in November 2011, the Swiss government chose the cheapest option in the form of the purchase of 22 Swedish JAS-39E fighters for the amount of 3.1 billion Swiss francs. But at the national referendum held on May 18, 2014, by a small margin (53.4%), the majority of its participants opposed the program for the purchase of 22 JAS-39E fighters, mainly for economic reasons.

A new referendum threat, which can be approved (or rejected) procurement already ordered aircraft F-35A, and for which agitate opponents procurement of new fighters (led c leftist circles and movement "Switzerland without an army" - GSoA), continues to loom and over the current Swiss extermination program - it is believed that the opponents of the purchase have about another year to initiate a possible referendum.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4442214.html

Excellent... the more of those money pit systems the west introduces the less money is available for useful things that might present a threat...

The ongoing costs will be crippling.

Planned sale of eight more F-16C/D Block 70 (F-16V) fighters to Bulgaria

The cost of the proposed delivery will be $1.673 billion, including training and technical support packages and a small amount of weapons. This is to be the second batch of F-16V fighters for Bulgaria, in addition to the eight aircraft ordered in 2019.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4509525.html

On August 25, 2022, the US Department of Defense Defense Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notice to the US Congress about the possible sale of Australia through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program at the request of the Australian government 40 Sikorsky multi-purpose helicopters ( Lockheed Martin UH-60M Black Hawk. This shipment is approved by the US Department of State. The total cost of the proposed delivery will be $1.95 billion, including training and technical support packages.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4578039.html

The first F-16V fighter of the new production was built

November 26th, 7:59 am
It is reported that on November 21, 2022, the first F-16V (Viper) fighter of the Block 70/72 series of the new construction was rolled out at the Lockheed Martin Corporation plant in Greenville (South Carolina) upon completion of manufacturing and painting. It also marked the completion of the transfer of mass production of F-16 fighters to the Greenville plant from the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, Texas, which had previously produced them since 1977, now completely given over to mass production of F-35 aircraft. Since the last production F-16 was produced in Fort Worth in 2017 (for the Iraqi Air Force), now the actual serial production of the F-16 has been resumed after a five-year break.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4617761.html

Patriot PAC-3+ sale to Spain

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/us-approves-possible-patriot-sale-to-spain

Planned sale of 54 M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams tanks to Romania

On November 9, 2023, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned possible sale of 54 M1A2 SEP v.3 main tanks to Romania through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Abrams, with a corresponding set of weapons, equipment, property, special vehicles and support vehicles. This sale has been approved by the US State Department. The total cost of the proposed delivery is estimated at $2.53 billion, including training and technical support packages.

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4772298.html

That is $46.85 million USD for each of these hunks of junk. Unfreakinbelievable.
Someone in Romania must be getting a huge kickback out of this deal.

The cost of the proposed delivery will be $1.673 billion, including training and technical support packages and a small amount of weapons. This is to be the second batch of F-16V fighters for Bulgaria, in addition to the eight aircraft ordered in 2019.

That works out at about 200 million per plane. Training and tech support and a small amount of weapons shouldn't be more than 50 million dollars so we are talking about an F-16 that costs more than an F-35... but obviously it will be faster and longer ranged and carry more weapons and the cost per hour to operate it will be a small fraction of the cost of the F-35.

Welcome to HATO.

US State Department approves sale of 50 M1A2 SEP v.3 Abrams MBTs to Bahrain

https://euro-sd.com/2024/03/major-news/37169/m1a2-fms-approved-for-bahrain/