[updated:LAST EDITED ON 30-01-03 AT 02:28 PM (GMT)]The United States on Wednesday gave Jordan six F-16 jet fighters from its surplus inventory as part of bilateral military assistance between the two countries, the US embassy here said in a statement.
The aircraft which were identified as “excess defence articles from the US air and National Guard inventories” were handed over to Jordan at a ceremony at the Shahid Muwafak al-Salti air force in northern Jordan, near the Iraqi border.
The ceremony was attended by Air Force Commander, Major General Faisal bin Hussein, a brother of King Abdullah II, and the US Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs, William Mitchell.
The commander of the US Central Command Air Forces, Lieutenant General Buzz Mosley, and the US ambassador to Jordan, Edward Gnehm also attended the ceremony, the statement added.
“The six aircraft delivered today comprise the initial delivery of a full F-16 squadron, with the remainder to follow,” the statement added. It did not elaborate on the total number.
The delivery of the F-16 jet fighters comes a day after a Jordanian official confirmed that Amman will receive three Patriot anti-missile batteries from the United States soon in order to bolster the country’s defensive arsenal.
The missiles will be delivered “in a few weeks,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The announcement coincided with US President George W. Bush threat of war against Jordan’s neighbour Iraq.
A diplomat in Jordan, who also asked not to be identified, said delivery would be at the “beginning of February,” adding that the missiles would be accompanied by a team to train the Jordanians in their use.
The missiles could possibly be used to shoot down long-range missiles fired from Iraq.
On Sunday the US government signed over to Jordan 145.5 million dollars in economic assistance to Jordan out of a projected total of 250 million dollars for 2003.
Jordan receives in addition 75 million dollars annually from the United States in military aid.
According to the US embassy Jordan’s air force already has a squadron of 16 US-made F-16 jet fighters in its inventory, which were delivered in 1997.
In the last Gulf War in 1991 Iraqi Scud missiles launched against Israel overflew Jordan before hitting the area around Tel Aviv. Earlier versions of Patriot missiles deployed in Israel failed to shoot them down.
Jordan has said it will play no part in a new war against its neighbour.
Source: Middle East Online (30th January, 2003)
Jordan receives first batch of F-16 fighter jets from U.S.
Jordan received six F-16 fighter jets on Wednesday, the first batch out of 16 attack aircraft donated by the United States to its longtime Arab ally.
The previously unannounced donation is the second since 1997, when former President Clinton granted Jordan $300 million worth of military equipment under a program to award the Arab kingdom for its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
That donation included 16 F-16 jet fighters, troop carriers, attack helicopters and other military gear, such as night vision goggles. “The six aircraft delivered today comprise the initial delivery of a full F-16 squadron, with the remainder to follow,” said a statement from the U.S. Embassy. A squadron comprises 16 attack aircraft.
The statement said the donation was made up of “excess defense articles from U.S. Air/National Guard inventories and transferred to Jordan as part of an ongoing bilateral military assistance program.”
Jordanian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Last week, Jordan’s army chief asked Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. Central Command, to provide the kingdom with an anti-missile battery to bolster Jordanian air defense. Jordan had negotiated a similar deal with Russia, which failed to deliver on time, forcing the kingdom to turn to European arms firms – mainly in Germany and the Netherlands – for the S-300 surface-to-air missile system.
Jordan, wedged between Iraq to its east and Israel to its west, wants to deploy an anti-missile battery before any U.S.-led war on Iraq. In the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq violated Jordanian airspace when it launched 39 Scud missiles at Israel.
The U.S. aircraft were delivered to Muafaq al-Salti air force base in Azraq, about 60 miles east of the Jordanian capital Amman, the U.S. Embassy statement said. The desert air base is about 155 miles west of the Iraqi frontier.
Jordan has had close military cooperation with the United States for decades. That includes an active calendar of joint military exercises.
Source: AP
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January 30, 2003 at 2:02 pm