Peru has received approval to buy 12 F-16C/D Block 70 jets, which would make it the fourth South American operator of the Lockheed Martin fighter. If the acquisition goes ahead, it will also confirm the Peruvian Air Force’s move away from Russian-made combat aircraft, which currently make up a significant proportion of its fleet. These aircraft are now increasingly hard to support, and, in general, Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has had a serious impact on its arms exports.

Yesterday, the U.S. State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Peru of 10 single-seat F-16C and two F-16D Block 70 aircraft, part of a package valued at around $3.42 billion. At this stage, the deal also includes 12 AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and 12 AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles. While no offensive armament is included in the package, it will apparently be added at a later stage, according to a statement from the U.S. government’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

“The proposed sale will enhance the Peruvian Air Force’s ability to control its sovereign airspace, defend its territorial borders, and conduct precision air-to-ground attack operations in support of ground forces in counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations,” the DSCA said in a statement. “The sale will also enhance Peru’s military partnership with the United States on an enduring long-term basis.”

Other key items in the initial package include Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars, which you can read more about in detail here, infrared search and track systems, AN/ALQ-254 Viper Shield or equivalent electronic warfare systems, and AN/AAQ-28 Litening targeting pods.

As well as the F-16, Peru has been looking at the Dassault Aviation Rafale F4, and the Saab Gripen E/F, while the Korea Aerospace KF-21 Boramae has also been suggested as a possible candidate.

It is important to stress that approved foreign arms sales announced through DSCA are not a final deal and are subject to change, including as a result of negotiations between the country in question and relevant defense contractors. However, it’s significant that Washington is ready to sell F-16s to Lima, which has, in the past, relied upon Russia and Europe for many of its combat aircraft.

Ultimately, Peru is thought to be looking for 24 new fighters to help overhaul the Peruvian Air Force inventory. This currently operates a mix of increasingly aging tactical jets, including around eight MiG-29 Fulcrums, eight Su-25 Frogfoots, 11 Mirage 2000s, and 20 Cessna A-37s. The numbers published here are from the 2025 FlightGlobal World Air Forces directory.

Of these aircraft, the A-37s may be available in the largest numbers, but they are the oldest and least capable. Meanwhile, the Mirages are theoretically among the most advanced in the Peruvian fleet, but these are some of the first Mirage 2000s delivered, back in the mid-1980s. As for the Russian-made equipment, acquired in the mid-1990s, this has undergone limited upgrade but is increasingly hard to keep serviceable.

The Fulcrums have been upgraded to MiG-29SM-P standard, including limited improvements to the radar and avionics equipment and the fitting of a fixed in-flight refueling probe, while the Frogfoots underwent a life-extension program. However, the number of serviceable Russian-made aircraft has fallen dramatically. Originally, 18 each of the MiG-29 and Su-25 were delivered.

Bearing in mind Peru’s historic use of Russian and French combat aircraft, it would be something of a coup for the F-16 to win the country’s competition for a new fighter. However, Lockheed Martin continues to win export sales for its classic F-16, in its latest Block 70/72 versions, building up an impressive order book at its Greenville, South Carolina, plant, while the contractor has also found an eager market for its F-16V upgrade package.

For a long time, the South American F-16 operator base was limited to Venezuela, as you can read about here. Venezuela remained the only F-16 user on that continent until it was joined by Chile more than two decades later. The third operator is Argentina, which only unveiled its first (secondhand) F-16 earlier this year.

Efforts to overhaul the Peruvian Air Force inventory have been hampered by limited budgets. On the other hand, in recent years, the country hasn’t faced notable tensions in terms of its relations with neighboring countries.

In 1981, the Peruvian Air Force went to war with Ecuador in the so-called Paquisha War, and the two countries clashed again during the Cenepa War of 1995, which saw relatively heavy clashes between the two air arms.

Since then, however, Peru has struggled with economic and social unrest in and its military has focused more on countering internal terrorist movements, notably the communist Sendero Luminoso (or Shining Path).

At one stage, the front-runners for the new Peruvian fighter were expected to comprise the MiG-35 and Su-30, as well as the aforementioned Rafale and Gripen. There were rumors, too, that the Chinese-made J-10 could be in the running.

However, the Russian contenders appear to have vanished from the competition, reflecting broader woes for the country’s arms exporters.

Since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has steadily seen its influence in such export campaigns reduced.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which researches conflict and arms, Russian arms exports fell by half in the period from 2019 to 2023 compared with the previous five-year period.

France has now overtaken Russia as the world’s second-biggest arms exporter, as Russian arms companies struggle with the dual challenges of having to replace materiel losses in the war in Ukraine and an export market that is increasingly hostile toward Moscow.

At the same time, sanctions imposed by Western countries make it much harder for Russia to produce arms in the first place, especially high-tech ones that rely on foreign subcomponents. Other issues include manpower and financial shortages, and growing costs as the Russian economy takes a hit.

SIPRI reports that, in 2019, Russia sold weapons to 31 countries, but by 2023, that number had fallen to 12.

Even before 2022, Russian defense contractors had a reputation for unreliable levels of support, especially when it came to spares and maintenance for aircraft. That issue has only become worse since the full-scale invasion, with spares for Russian aircraft being increasingly hard to buy. Then there are also the reputational losses incurred by the mixed results of Russian weapons when exposed to the realities of the battlefield.

Until now, Peru had been unusual in buying Russian arms despite not being closely aligned with Moscow on a military or political level. Now, it seems, the forces of supply chains and geopolitics will push Lima toward buying a Western fighter to overhaul its air force. Bearing in mind the F-16’s global success and its increasing footprint in South America, a sale of these jets to Peru would not be a surprise.

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