Israel’s Ministry of Defence is in talks to sell 29 out-of-service F-16A/B ‘Netz’ fighter jets to Top Aces, a Canadian-based flight school.
Top Aces, which provides contract aviation training services to the Canadian Armed Forces, is planned to pay about $US3.5 million for each aircraft in exchange for the deal.
The F-16s, purchased by the Israeli Air Force in the end of the 1970s, were de-serviced in 2016.
If the deal is finalized, the F-16s will join Top Aces’ Alpha jet and Skyhawk aircraft fleet.
Israel had plans to sell the de-serviced F-16s to Croatia, but the United States had not been approved for the sale of these specially developed aircraft.
211216-N-QI061-1222 NAVAL STATION MAYPORT, Fla. (December 16, 2021) An MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), assigned to Unmanned Patrol Squadron 19 (VUP-19), sits on the flight line at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, Dec. 16, 2021. VUP-19, the Navy’s first Triton squadron, will continue to maintain and operate the aircraft off the East Coast to further develop the concept of operations and refine tactics, techniques, and procedures. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Nathan T. Beard/ Released)