Lockheed Martin focuses on Portugal – Portugal Resident
U.S. defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin has said that it ‘may produce F-35 5th-generation fighter components in Portugal and handle their maintenance’, should the Portuguese government choose this aircraft to replace its (aging) F-16 fleet.
Just over a year since Defence minister Nuno Melo intimated that the country was backing away from its previous plans to purchase F-35s, they appear to be ‘back in the picture’.
Lusa reports that “Lockheed Martin hopes to display a Portuguese flag soon on (its) production line, which turns out 156 fighters annually. Sweden’s SAAB with the Gripen and a European consortium including Airbus with its Eurofighter Typhoon are competing to replace the Portuguese F-16 fleet,” the state news agency acknowledges.
“While the deal remains pending, the US company is highlighting the potential for component production and fighter maintenance in Portugal. “It is absolutely possible,” Robert Weitzman, F-35 International Business Development Director, told the Portuguese press.
“We are not starting relationships with Portuguese industry, we are following up on them,” he added, recalling previous collaboration on programmes such as the P-3 and F-16.
Lockheed Martin has been in contact with the Portuguese Air Force, officials said, although no official dialogue has yet taken place with the government. The executive is expected to review the Military Programming Law (LPM) this year to include the new fighter jets in its planning.
Beyond the potential production of components, Lockheed Martin has reportedly identified 16 possible partnership projects in Portugal involving companies, universities, and research centres. These areas include co-production, technological collaboration, exports, supply chain integration, and joint research and development projects, writes Lusa. (No mention of the number of universities that recently lost their habitual American funding…)
“This is a long-term investment, spanning decades, and a critical deterrence capability. There is no better platform to stay ahead of threats today and in the coming decades,” Weitzman said.
Lusa’s report follows an invitation from Lockheed Martin to its headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, where journalists toured the site in a golf buggy. It makes no mention of the interview given by defence minister Nuno Melo last year to Público in which he suggested that Portugal was rethinking a €5.5 billion purchase of US F-35 fighter jets – not because of any operational drawbacks, but because there is the danger that, in purchasing them, countries could find themselves unable to use the planes when they wanted to, as the US holds critical controls.
Politico explained: “Portugal’s air force has recommended buying Lockheed Martin F-35s, but when outgoing Defence Minister Nuno Melo was asked by Portugese media Público whether the government would follow that recommendation, he replied: “We cannot ignore the geopolitical environment in our choices. The recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO … must make us think about the best options, because the predictability of our allies is a greater asset to take into account.”
Melo’s interview coincided with the threats at the time made by Donald Trump to annex Greenland.
“The world has changed … and this ally of ours … could bring limitations to use, maintenance, components, and everything that has to do with ensuring that aircraft will be operational and used in all types of scenarios,” Melo told Público, adding that “there are several options that must be considered, particularly in the context of European production, and also considering the return these options may have on the Portuguese economy”.
Perhaps an offer by Lockheed Martin to actually produce F-35 components in Portugal has cast a different light on the perceived limitations. Certainly, Air Force top brass have always been seen to favour the F-35s as the replacements for the country’s F-16s. And now, Lusa’s latest text – which will be faithfully reproduced by several news outlets – highlights how the jets’ manufacturer “has been using the argument of real-world experience as a way to convince customers such as Portugal.
Regarding problems that have been reported concerning software updates – at a time when F-35s are in action in the conflict between the US and Israel and Iran – officials state that this is a “programme undergoing continuous improvement” and guarantee “high levels” of readiness, Lusa’s report concludes.
So far, Nuno Melo appears to be playing this ‘Lusa promotion’ low-key. Observador online reiterates that he has said the official process for deciding what kind of fighter jets should replace the country’s 28 F-16s has “not yet begun”.
Sources: LUSA/ Observador
