Romania"s top national security body has...

The Romanian government will send a proposal to acquire 24 used F-16 fighters to parliament for a vote after the Supreme Defense Council, headed by President Traian Basescu, approved the plan late on Tuesday.

"Because Romania does not have the financial resources needed to acquire new multi-role planes, the Supreme Defense Council approved the request of the Defense Ministry to acquire 24 F-16 fighters," the president"s website said.

The service life of several dozen MiG-21 fighter jets, developed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the mid-1950s and upgraded for the Romanian Air Force by Elbit of Israel and Aerostar S.A. of Romania in the 1990"s, expires in 2013.

According to open sources, only 48 MiG-21s are still in service with the Romanian Air Force.

Unofficial media reports earlier said that the U.S. government was ready to give the F-16s for free, if Romania would take responsibility for modernizing them, training the pilots and upgrading flight

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