commander Major General Shaikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Khalifa said the Gulf state hoped the first planes will be delivered in 2021. The sale of F-16 Vipers and related equipment to Bahrain was first approved by the U.S. State Department in 2016 during the Obama administration but it was delayed over human rights concerns. President Donald Trump dropped the human rights conditions last year. The State Department then approved the sale of 19 aircraft worth $2.78 billion, and another $1.1 billion to upgrade Bahrain's existing fleet of 20 F-16s to the Viper configuration in September 2017. The proposed sales also include additional equipment and support. Hamid said in October that the purchase of the other three aircraft was still a possibility. Incidents and accidents 27 September 2003: F-16C Block 40 Fighting Falcon (s/n RBAF 204; c/n AC-12) crashed in the Persian Gulf, north of Bahrain. This was the first F-16 loss for Bahrain and attributed to the pilot becoming disoriented during maneuvers. 30 December 2015: An F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia while supporting the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. The pilot was recovered safely and the crash was attributed to technical issues. Current Squadrons Bases Personnel The air force had 650 personnel in 1992 and 1,500 in 2009. Aircraft Current inventory Future Bahrain is planning to recapitalize its fighter fleet. Replacement of the F-5 fleet is to be accomplished with additional F-16 orders in the near term, while longer-term plans call for a more capable aircraft to be acquired to add to or replace the F-16 fleet. Bahrain is considering buying the Eurofighter Typhoon, the JAS 39 Gripen, the Dassault Rafale, or the F-35 Lightning II. The British government is in early talks with Bahrain over a potential order for the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter. In September 2016 it was announced that the sale of up to 19 further F-16s had been submitted to the US Congress for approval, however the White House later advised that it would not complete the approval unless it showed progress on human rights issues arising from the Bahraini protests of 2011. In September 2017, the United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency approved the sale of up to 22 F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft, as well as the sale of 20 upgrade kits to upgrade Bahrain's existing F-16 fleet to the F-16V Viper variant, the most advanced variant of the F-16, featuring the