Nothing But Netz: Will Romania's New Fighters Come From Israel?

Israeli companies have made something of a specialty of refurbishing older Western fighters and even Soviet fighters with modern radars, avionics, and Israeli weapons like the Python air-air missile, giving the systems new life. India's refurbished MiG-21 'Bisons' combined Russian, Indian and Israeli technology* to excellent effect in the COPE India 2004 and 2005 exercises with the USAF, and there's even a Russian-Israeli MiG-21 2000 variant that exists for general sale. An all-Israeli effort was undertaken along somewhat similar lines to create Romania's MiG-21 'Lancers' via upgrade.

Rumor had it that the success of those efforts has led to a more ambitious fighter deal between Israel and Romania – but in 2 years, that doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. Now other firms are in the mix, including Saab with its Gripen and – surprisingly – EADS' Eurofighter.

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