Reply #7: ROFL.... [View All]

[Say_What]

Chavez probably clued them in on what a piss poor vendor Uncle Sam is by wanting to sell degraded equipment and how they refuse to supply Venezuela with parts.

<clips>

In May 1982, the government of Venezuela signed an agreement to buy 18 Block 15 F-16A's and six Block 15 F-16B's to replace the fleet of Mirage III interceptors and Mirage 5 ground-attack aircraft serving with the Fuerza Aérea Venezolana. This purchase was under the Peace Delta Foreign Military Sales program.

However, the Venzuelan order was not approved immediately because the US government wanted to sell Venezuela the F-16/79 (a slightly degraded F-16 version developed for export orders) instead. In 1983, the US government abandoned its hopes of selling the F-16/79, and finally approved the sale of the F100-powered F-16s to Venezuela

...Of the original 24 aircraft that Venezuela bought, three have crashed: the first two, due to engine failure, and the second one, an F-16B, crashed during a maneuver on an air show at Base Aerea El Libertador, where Grupo 16 is based. In this accident, the first and second commander of the squadron where killed. The Venezuelan Air Force was looking for US government approval to replace these two aircraft and was planning to overhaul and update the remaining 22 airframes. At the end of October 1997, the US government approved the sale of the two F-16s, as well as an upgrade packet including the F-100-PW-220E. However, the purchase of the two attrition airframes has been halted until further notice.

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article25.html