President José María Balcázar indicated that the decision on whether to purchase the advanced fighter jet should be made by his successor, set to take office in July.

Last week, aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin made the Peruvian governmenta remarkable offer. This week, Lima appears to have refused, at least for the time being.

After the Fuerza Aérea del Perú (Peruvian Air Force/FAP) announced it had selected the US-made F-16 Fighting Falcon over the Swedish-made JAS 39 Gripen E/F and France’s Rafale, Lockheed Martin sought to improve the original offer of a dozen F-16 Block 70 fighters for $3.42 billion, doubling it to 24 Fighting Falcons for $3.5 billion. This would provide the FAP with twice as many of the most advanced F-16s for just around $80 million, or less than half the cost of a single fighter.

Yet, instead of jumping on it, Peruvian officials have put the entire deal on hold.

Contract on Hold Until Election, Peruvian President Says

Peruvian President José María Balcázar “indefinitely postponed a contract signing scheduled for last Friday, canceling the ceremony hours before it started,” Bloomberg reported over the weekend. Balcázar said the decision on whether to acquire the fighters should be made by the future leader of Peru later this year.

“Because of the precariousness of the government we are in, a government that has not been elected by popular vote cannot commit that much money,” Balcázar—Peru’s third consecutive interim president since 2022 and its eighth in a decade—said in a radio interview on Friday. 

Balcázar is set to depart office in July. The 83-year-old left-wing president, who belongs to the Marxist-Leninist Perú Libre Party, took office as the nation’s interim leader following the removal from office of predecessor José Jerí, who was ousted over corruption allegations. Balcázar won a majority of votes among the country’s legislators, but was not elected by voters themselves, theoretically limiting the legitimacy of major decisions made on his watch.

Still, the decision not to move forward with the purchase of the F-16s, even if only temporarily, could be seen as passing up a truly good deal that would ensure close ties to Washington. If Peru opts to wait until Balcázar’s successor is inaugurated in July, there is no guarantee that Lockheed Martin would feel obliged to extend the same terms in a future contract.

“The worry now is that Peru may be close to missing its strongest opportunity yet to secure a US defense partnership and that Lockheed may cancel or revise its offer with higher prices and longer delivery timelines,” Bloomberg wrote, citing two former “high-ranking Peruvian officials” who had participated in contract negotiations with Lockheed Martin.

Peru’s Election Won’t Be Decided for a While

Peruvians voted in the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, April 12, with voting extended an additional day after delays in ballot distribution. Keiko Fujimori, Peru’s former First Lady (under her father Alberto Fujimori) and later a right-wing congresswoman, placed first; the second- and third-place candidates secured a near-tie, requiring a recount.

No candidate reached 50 percent of the vote, and Fujimori and the winner of the recount will face off in a runoff election on June 7. The winner will be inaugurated on July 28, Peru’s independence day.

It was only in 2024 that then-President Dina Boularte, prior to her impeachment, announced that Peru would support a $3.5 billion acquisition of 24 new fighters for the FAP to replace its aging fleet of Soviet-designed MiG-29 (NATO reporting name “Fulcrum”) and French-designed Mirage 2000 aircraft. The program was to be funded through domestic borrowing of $2 billion in 2025 and an additional $1.5 billion in 2026.

Lockheed Martin, Saab, and Dassault Aviation solicited bids, and the Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen was seen as the frontrunner. However, the F-16 was selected because Lima favored its higher performance standards over the Gripen’s.

Lockheed Martin has not made a statement on whether it will hold the deal’s current terms in place until July. The aerospace contractor may now show patience as it waits for a deal to be ratified, seeking to maintain a foothold in Latin America. But that fortitude may not last forever.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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