By IANS
Washington : Defence and aerospace major Lockheed Martin has received the US government's initial payment of $187 million as part of the $1.1-billion contract to produce 30 new F-16 aircraft for Turkey.
The governments of Turkey and the US had signed a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) earlier this year for the sale of 30 F-16s to supplement the Turkish Air Force's existing fleet of F-16s.
"This marks the 52nd follow-on buy of F-16s by 14 repeat customers. The aircraft we will deliver to Turkey will join the fleet of over 4,300 F-16s representing 24 nations," said John Larson, vice president, Lockheed Martin F-16 programmes.
At the conclusion of these two programmes, all Turkish F-16s will be in a common configuration. The final F-16 under this contract will be delivered in 2013, the $39.6-billion company said in a statement.
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