Lockheed Martin says work is on schedule to deliver the first F-35s to Greece in 2028, with the first eight aircraft expected to be built in the United States and the rest assembled in Italy.
New details are emerging about the acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II by Greece, following an interview by Greek newspaper Kathimerini to Lockheed Martin’s Vice President of F-35 Business Development J.R. McDonald. As we reported, Greece signed a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) for the procurement of 20 F-35s on July 25, 2024.
Greece became the 19th country to acquire the 5th gen fighter jet, followed by Romania whose request was approved earlier this month. According to the new details, the U.S. government is expected to proceed with the implementation of the procurement contract for the Greek aircraft by October.
“With the signing of the Letter of Offer and Acceptance by the Greek government in July, negotiations for the interstate agreement have begun,” said McDonald. “The next steps include the conclusion of a US government contract with Lockheed Martin for the production and delivery of Greece’s F-35s.”
The Hellenic Air Force aims to field a first squadron of 20 aircraft and, after 2030, exercise the option included in the LOA for 20 additional aircraft. While timelines were not initially disclosed, it appears that Greece will receive its first aircraft in four years, with the manufacture of the first aircraft expected to begin in two years.
“We are on schedule to deliver the initial batch of the 20 F-35s in 2028,” mentioned McDonald. However, he also noted that the first F-35s will be based in the United States for 27 months to allow the completion of the training of pilots and technicians.
Regarding the production, McDonald said that the first aircraft will be manufactured in the United States, while it is quite possible that the following ones will be assembled at Cameri’s Final Assembly Check Out facility in Italy. Cameri, in northwestern Italy, is home of one of the two FACO facilities where F-35s are assembled outside the United States (the other one being Nagoya in Japan).
“While there is no official plan on where the aircraft will be produced or final production schedules, we expect Greece’s first eight F-35s to be built in the US,” noted McDonald. “The aircraft are expected to be delivered to Greece in 2030,” he added, referring to the arrival of the first aircraft on Greek soil.
No mentions were made during the interview about the 2020’s claims regarding the six F-35s built for Turkey possibly being diverted to Greece. After those claims emerged, no official comments were released on the matter, but McDonald’s interview confirms that only newly built aircraft will be destined to Greece.
Kathimerini also added that the aircraft destined to the Hellenic Air Force, painted with the F-35’s standard dark livery, will use grey low visibility marking, while the colored roundels and insignia will only be used during the delivery ceremony and similar occasions.
Largest investment program for the Hellenic Air Force
The procurement of F-35s is set to become the Hellenic Air Force’s largest investment program to date and one of several modernization efforts Athens has initiated in recent years to upgrade its military capabilities.
Greece is indeed undertaking a comprehensive military modernization program following a prolonged financial crisis and amid tensions with Turkey. Ankara was removed from the F-35 program after deciding to purchase the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system, a move viewed by the United States as a threat to NATO security.
In Athens, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis called the current military upgrade initiative the most significant in “many decades” the Associated Press reported. “We will continue to implement this major program, equipping our country and strengthening its defenses,” Marinakis stated.
On November 6, 2020, the Greek government formally requested an urgent acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II 5th generation aircraft for the Hellenic Air Force through a Letter of Request (LOR) to the U.S. Department of Defense.
The U.S. State Department approved the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Greece for up to 40 F-35A 5th gen. fighter jets along with 42 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines (40 installed and 2 spares), for an estimated cost of 8.6 billion USD. The United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the Congress of the possible sale on Jan. 26, 2024.
Since Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 program, Athens has been striving to gain an air superiority edge through several acquisition and upgrade programs.
In 2021, the HAF started receiving the first of 18 Dassault Rafale jets to replace the older, non-upgraded Mirage 2000EG/BG models and complement the newer Mirage 2000-5 Mk II.
Additionally, the HAF is upgrading 82 of its 153 F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft to the F-16V Block 70 configuration. This upgrade program will continue until 2027, with the first two aircraft handed back after the upgrade and a test campaign in the United States in September 2022. Along with the F-16V upgrade, the HAF also opted to perform a subsequent in-house upgrade of the F-16C/Ds Block 50 by using equipment removed during the Block 72 upgrade from the other aircraft. With this upgrade the Block 50 Vipers will be reportedly brought to the to the M6 avionic configuration.
Many other programs are also ongoing, including the acquisition of MH-60R Seahawk and UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, as well as the modernization of the S-70B6 Aegean Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters. Greece is also looking to strengthen its cargo aircraft fleet, requesting two C-130Hs and pricing for the C-130J, as well as expressing interest in acquiring second-hand KC-135 tanker aircraft.
The Cameri Final Assembly Check Out facility
The Italian FACO, a 101-acre facility including 22 buildings and more than one million square feet of covered work space, housing 11 assembly stations, and five maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade bays, is owned by the Italian Ministry of Defense and is operated by Leonardo in conjunction with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
According to LM, 800 skilled personnel are engaged in full assembly of the Conventional Take-off/Landing F-35A and F-35B aircraft variants and is also producing 835 F-35A full wing sets to support all customers in the program. The Cameri FACO also has the only F-35B production capability outside the United States and was selected as F-35 Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade center for the entire European region.
The United States government recently cleared European customers to request their aircraft to be produced in Italy. Pricing and production standard are the same, as U.S. Air Force officers are assigned by the Defense Contract Management Agency in Cameri to make sure that quality stays consistent.
The main difference is the volume of the production, as Cameri builds about 15 F-35s per year and Fort Worth produces about 130. What makes Cameri’s FACO attractive is the possibility to have the initial aircraft delivered quickly, in spite of current Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) delays experienced by Fort Worth.
Lockheed Martin confirmed to us earlier this year that the FACO is currently producing TR-2 aircraft, which are not subject to the delays and will be later retrofitted to the TR-3 configuration. In addition to Italian F-35s, Cameri’s FACO is also producing F-35s for the Netherlands and Switzerland and a part of the aircraft acquired by the Czech Republic.
