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Greece will acquire 20 Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft and become the newest member of the F-35 Lightning II Global Alliance.
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Under a signed letter of offer and acceptance (LOA), the Greece government will acquire the aircraft through a US foreign military sale and retain the option for 20 additional aircraft.
F-35 aircraft currently operate from 32 bases worldwide, with 10 nations operating F-35s on home soil. There are nearly 1,000 aircraft operational with more than 860,000 flight hours fleetwide.
“We are excited to welcome Greece into the F-35 enterprise,” said Air Force Lieutenant General Mike Schmidt, director and program executive officer, F-35 Joint Program Office.
“The F-35 will provide exceptional capability to the Hellenic Air Force, build interoperability between our allies and strengthen the combat effectiveness for all of NATO.”
F-35 aircraft are utilised by NATO in interoperability, training and patrol missions; by the 2030s, it is expected that more than 600 F-35s will work together from more than 10 European countries, including two full US F-35 squadrons stationed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath.
“For several decades, the Hellenic Air Force has been our partner, and it is our honour to continue that relationship as Greece becomes the 19th nation to join the F-35 program,” said Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin vice-president and general manager of the F-35 program.
“The F-35 is the only fighter suitable to strengthen Greece’s sovereignty and operational capability with allies.”
Hellenic Armed Forces already operate F-16s, C-130s and Hawk helicopters. It is currently upgrading a portion of its F-16 fleet to the advanced “Viper” configuration while its Hercules fleet supports critical airlift mission requirements. Greece recently signed an LOA to acquire 35 UH-60M Black Hawks in addition to its existing S-70B fleet and newly acquired MH-60R maritime helicopters.
