Reports surfaced in the summer of 2004 that the Mugabe government had reached a deal with China to buy 12 fighters for the Air Force of Zimbabwe. According to the reports, the defense ministry's permanent secretary said on June 9 that 12 of the fighters had been ordered and six would be delivered the following week. This was followed days later by a statement by an opposition party official that 12 Chinese fighters were being ordered.
The fighter deal, reportedly worth $240 million, then seemed to collapse, however. On June 21 a Chinese official emphatically denied reports of the deal, calling them "baseless." In fact, both governments have since claimed to have no knowledge of the deal, although there is still speculation that the Zimbabwean government remains interested in the fighters. Its ability to fund such a purchase is another matter, however, considering the general shortages plaguing the country as a result the increasingly irrational economic and political policies of the Mugabe government.
Local speculation has centered on the Chengdu FC-1 as the fighter in question, but this raises more questions since this model is still in the developmental stage. Still, the Air Force is known to have pursued procurement of the older Chengdu F-7MG. (11/04)
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