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Show HILL AFB - When F-16 fighters begin flying at Hill AFB early next year they will have an international flavor. UNDER TERMS of a historic his-toric F-16 Multinational Production Program, the U.S. Government and the governments govern-ments of Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway agreed to share F-16 production. produc-tion. The countries will be involved in-volved in the first 650 F-16s planned for the U.S. Air Force, the 348 F-I6s destined for other NATO nations, and a certain number of F-16s sold to other countries. The F-16 logistics program will be managed by the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB. GENERAL DYNAMICS of Ft. Worth, Tex., is the U.S. producer. Recently General Dynamics aircraft assemblies attached the first major European-produced components com-ponents wings from Belgium Bel-gium to an F-16 multinational multina-tional fighter. The aluminum wings were manufactured by SABCA in Haren, near Brussels and shipped to Texas by sea. The SABCA wings are among more than 50 F-16 component, avionic and equipment items manufactured jointly by U.S. and European industry. BESIDES, THE Ft. Worth assembly lines, there are two others: at Gosselies, Belgium; Bel-gium; and near Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Some 30 F-16 subcontractors subcontrac-tors are producing components, com-ponents, avionics and equip- ' ment in four NATO "co-producer" "co-producer" nations. Belgian industry, for example, is producing fuselage, radar and engine components. DUTCH INDUSTRY is producing fuselage and wing components, landing gear and pilot head-up display units. Danish industry is assembling as-sembling vertical tails, leading lead-ing flap drives, . heat exchangers and flight control system components. NORWAY'S F-16 production produc-tion includes engine components, com-ponents, wheels and brakes, fuel tanks and electronic systems. sys-tems. More than $1.4 billion in F-16 coproduction contracts have been let to European industry in-dustry by General Dynamics, the airframe prime contractor; contrac-tor; Peatt & Whitney, prime contractor for the F-16's F-100 engine, and their American subcontractors. THE U.S. Air Force took delivery of the first production produc-tion F-16 in August 1978. European Air Force will begin receiving their first F-16S early in 1979. Plans for nearly 2,000 F-16s have been announced by seven nations. THE U.S. Air Force has stated plans to procure 1,388 F-16S. The 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB will begin transitioning from F-4 Phantom Phan-tom jets into F-16s beginning in January 1979. It will be the first U.S. Air Force wing to receive the aircraft. IN ADDITION to the 348 for Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, plus 160 of the Mach 2 fighters for Iran, the sale of 75 aircraft to Israel has been approved by President Carter and Congress. Interest in the F-16 has been expressed by a number of other nations. The needle-nosed needle-nosed aircraft is a prominent contender in the new fighter aircraft evaluations underway under-way in Canada and Australia. . KOREA, GREECE and Turkey also have expressed interest in the F-16. |