True they may be too proud to delegate, but if they can’t support it economically, then new acquisitions won’t happen – unless they’re sponsored by Uncle Sam of course!

I think the Eastern NATO countries will acquire Western a/c – JAS-39 – Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary already have.

Countries like Bulgaria and Romania will probably get subsidised weaponry from the US in the future. Slovenia was apparently looking at letting Italy or Hungary conduct air policing- they havealso refused to commit themselves to jet aircraft until at least the 2010’s. Their NATO status will probably mean Western a/c if they do decide to get jets.

The Croatian AF also wants to be integrated into NATO – They’ve wanted F-16’s but can only afford a few upgraded MiG-21’s.

I think that a lot of these Eastern countries will become a second home to ex-USAF F-16C’s once F-35 enters service or JAS-39 Gripens.

Originally posted by m.ileduets
Two things: We’re not talking about a fifth generation fighter here, rather a cheap late fourth generation one engine point defence sort ot thing. Even “economic basket cases” (they are certainly not a majority on my list as you are implying) might prefer an inexpensive new plane. Countries like S&M, Macedonia and Albania take great pride in their armed forces. They traditionally had quite a big fleet of fighter planes. They might also realize that a new acquisition would be cheaper on the long run than hand downs of various models that require expensive upgrades, logistics, spares and maintenance.
Second: keep the time lapse in mind! We’re talking about eight- ten years from now and more. Some of these “economic basket cases” are likely to experience economic growth in the near future with the EU eastward expansion. They might not be able to opt for either medium or large size models or fifth generation, but a small, inexpensive Mig could be affordable by then. That’s all they need for air policing and self defence.

Macedonia’s traditional large fleet has consisted of 4 Su-25’s – that’s almost a third of a squadron. Sorry – I’m addicted to sarcasm.

Alnbania is an economic basketcase and will remain so for some time.

Also one cannot look at “tradition” since that was the blooming Cold War and Albania was run by that nutter, Enver Hoxha, who purcahsed dozens of totally obsolete F-5’s and F-6’s.

S&M is also no longer run by Tito or that other Blakan celebrity, Miloseivc, and I doubt they’ll buy anything more than 24-36 a/c in 15-20 years time when they have money instead of over 100 MiG-21’s and hundreds of cruddy G-2/J-21 and J-22.

As for economic growth – these countries are starting from small bases – Albania was one of the poorest in Europe while many of the ex-Yugoslav states have only just stopped sliding.

Remember that the Cold War finished 15 odd years ago, and Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria are still operating Soviet crap despite having more stable histories and economies that weren’t blasted to smithereens by US bombs or sanctions.