Note further down the Venezuelan purchase of Mig-29s.
This is a blog type page, so stories move down ...Meanwhile, the American plant that produces the these bombs recently halted production. It seems that high production of bombs have exposed workers to unusually high amounts of gases given off by TNT (the explosive used in most bombs.) This in turn caused many workers to develop anemia. This is a condition that is known to be caused by too much exposure to TNT fumes, but the bomb plant has not seen a case of this anemia in over 60 years. The plant will remain closed until the source of the anemia can be found. This probably won't have an effect on the Israeli bomb order, which is not expected to be delivered until next year. In any event, Israel can take delivery of the "smart bomb" guidance kits and attach them to "dumb" bombs they already have.
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September 27, 2004: Reports from Colombian and American sources indicate that Venezuela has closed a deal for 50 Russian MiG-29 fighters (40 single-seat, 10 two-seat trainers). This is a huge purchase for Venezuela, which currently operates 18 American F-5a, 15 French Mirage 5s, and 18 American F-16A combat planes, with a mixture of trainers (2 F-5B, 2 Mirage 5, 6 F-16B - the F-16Bs are fully combat-capable).
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