Labour's rejected jets flying in US

Some of the 28 F-16 fighters turned down three years ago as a replacement for the Air Force's ageing Skyhawks have returned to the air in United States livery.

The 28 fighters were to have been leased from the US in a National Government deal touted as the bargain of the century.

But the arrangement was dumped in March 2000 by the Labour Government, which said they were not a top priority and the money should be directed to other defence priorities.

The next year Labour axed the Air Force's air combat force of Skyhawk attack fighters which the F-16s were to have replaced.

The 28 fighters were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Pakistan but were not delivered because of a US arms embargo imposed over suspicions that Pakistan was building nuclear weapons.

The 28 F-16s were put into storage at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, and Pakistan was given soy bean oil in exchange for the US$685 million deposit it had paid.

The United States Navy and the United States Air Force have each taken 14 of the F-16s.

The first two of nine to go to the Edwards Air Force Base in California have been refurbished, and are at the base.

They will be used for support operations and for training pilots.

- NZPA