Le Soir : Number one on the army’s list of concerns, Belgium has no choice but to replace its F-16 fighters

Posted on 26 October 2013 by elanlanguages

General Caelenberge deems that it's no longer possible to update the current fighters.
The budgetary and industrial impact of this upgrade alone will extend beyond the defense sector.

Even if Belgium replaced only half of its present F-16 fleet of 64 fighters at €75 million each, the expense would reach the €2.4 billion mark, almost the entire army budget. What if over the period of one year, all the police officers, firefighter and magistrate salaries, all the Interior and Justice departments expenses were absorbed by a single military purchase such as around thirty F-35 Lightning II fighters?

Read more at http://blog.lesoir.be/lesoirinenglish/2013/10/26/number-one-on-the-armys-list-of-concerns-belgium-has-no-choice-but-to-replace-its-f-16-fighters/