The Government of Israel has reached an understanding with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company to purchase more than 50 additional F-16 aircraft.

The aircraft are being purchased in a follow-on order to the 50 ordered by Israel in 1999 and will be produced in the same advanced, two-seat F-16 I configuration.

Deliveries will be in 2006, following completion of the 50 aircraft that were already on order, and will be completed in 2009. Total value of this follow-on purchase is approximately $2 billion with Lockheed Martin portion approximately $1.3 billion.

The aircraft will include a number of systems produced by Israeli industry and will be powered by the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 engine. Final assembly will occur at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, facility.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense and Lockheed Martin reached an agreement in principle for the sale today at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport in France. Formal governmental agreements will be completed later.

"This order is another significant development that continues the long heritage of cooperative program between the Government of Israel and Lockheed Martin Corporation. It reinforces the significant defense capability provided by Israel's Air Force, which relies on the F-16 as the backbone of its fighter aircraft fleet," said Amos Yaron, Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

"We are honored that Israel has again selected the F-16 to continue the modernization of its air force. This is another strong endorsement of the F-16 as the world's most capable and sought-after combat aircraft," said Dain M. Hancock, President of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company.

Israel has the world's largest F-16 fleet outside the United States Air Force. The country has received or ordered more than 300 F-16 aircraft, including 102 new ones ordered since 1999 and 50 earlier model F-16s that were acquired from the U.S. inventory in the mid-1990s.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics company is a unit of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Other Lockheed Martin Aeronautics products include F-22 Raptor, C-130J airlifter, F-117 stealth fighter and international cooperative development projects. The company leads a Joint Strike Fighter team that also includes Northrop Grumman and BAE SYSTEMS.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company