Jordan has signed a contract to buy 12 new Lockheed Martin F-16 C/D block 70 fighters from the United States. The agreement was signed by the commander of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, Brigadier Gen. Pilot Mohamed Fathi Hyasat, and representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Jordan. The U.S. State Department cleared the sale of 16 F-16C/D fighters to Jordan in February 2022 for an estimated cost of $4.21 billion. The Foreign Military Sale was for 12 C-models and 4 D-models. It is unknown how many C and D models Jordan will be buying in this contract. The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin, Greenville, South Carolina.

The proposed sale will improve Jordan’s capability to meet current and future threats by ensuring continued interoperability with U.S. and coalition forces. These aircraft will modernize the Jordanian fighter aircraft fleet and support operational requirements associated with regional U.S.-coalition goals, such as countering violent extremist organizations, countering malign state and non-state actors, and border defense. Jordan will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The Government of Jordan has requested to buy 12 F-16 C Block 70 aircraft; 4 F-16 D Block 70 aircraft; 21 F100-GE-129D engines or F100-PW229EEP engines; 21 Improved Programmable Display Generators (iPDG); 21 AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Scalable Agile Beam Radars (SABR); 21 MMC 7000AH; 27 LN-260 Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) Inertial Navigation Systems (INS) (EGI) with Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) and Precise Positioning Service (PPS); 6 AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP); 31 Link 16 Low-Volume Terminals ; 72 LAU-129 launchers; 21 M61A1 Vulcan; 402 FMU-139 or FMU-152 Joint Programmable fuzes; 100 KMU-556 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tail kits for 2,000LB GBU-31; 102 KMU-572 JDAM tail kits for 500LB Laser JDAM GBU-54; one hundred (100) MAU-209 Computer Control Group (CCG) for Paveway II (PWII) GBU-10; 100 MAU-209 CCG for Paveway II (PWII) GBU-10; 102 MXU-651 Air Foil Group (AFG); 100) MAU-210 Enhanced Computer Control Group (ECCG) for 500LB Enhanced Paveway II (EP II) EGBU-49; one hundred three (103) MXU-650 Air Foil Group (AFG) for 500LB EP II EGBU-49; two hundred (200) MK-84 or BLU-117 (or equivalent) bomb bodies; two hundred four (204) MK-82 or BLU-111 (or equivalent) bomb bodies; six (6) MK-82 inert bombs; and two (2) MAU-169 Computer Control Group (CCG) trainers, weapons integration and support equipment