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<p class="text-body text-muted small">The first F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcon for Bahrain was rolled out on 10 March. (Lockheed Martin)</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin rolled out the first F-16 Block 70 Fighting Falcon for Bahrain during a ceremony at the company’s Greenville production facility in South Carolina on 10 March.</p>
<p>The twin-seat F-16D was the first of 16 jets destined for the Royal Bahraini Air Force (RBAF), and also the first F-16 to be built at Greenville since production of the type was transferred from Fort Worth, Texas, in 2019.</p>
<p>The roll-out came weeks after the first flight on 24 January, and the aircraft will undergo flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base before being flown to Bahrain in 2024.</p>
<p>Bahrain was the first F-16 operator in the Gulf Cooperation Council in the early 1990s, and in June 2018 became the launch customer for the F-16 Block 70 when it signed a USD1.12 billion contract with the US government (if all of Bahrain’s F-16 Block 70 options are exercised, the total value of the deal is estimated to be USD3.86 billion). The RBAF will also upgrade its 20 Block 40 F-16C/D aircraft to this latest standard to make a total fleet of 36 F-16 Block 70 aircraft.</p>
<p>Weapons recently approved for the Bahraini F-16V deal comprise 32 Raytheon AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles; 32 Raytheon AIM-9X Short-Range Air-to-Air Missiles; 20 Boeing AGM-84 Block 2 Harpoon missiles; two AGM-84L-1 Block 2 Harpoon missiles; 40 Raytheon AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapons; 50 Raytheon AGM-88B High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles; 100 Boeing GBU-39 250 lb Small Diameter Bombs; and items for GBU-10, GBU-12, GBU-31, GBU-49, GBU-50, GBU-54, and GBU-56 precision-guided bombs.</p>
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