Czech Defence Minister Jana Černochová and U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic Bijan Sabet signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Jan. 29 under which the Czechs are to field the first of 24 Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35A fighters by 2031 and benefit from 14 industrial cooperation projects worth about $673 million.
Of the 14 projects, 11 are with Lockheed Martin and three with RTX‘s [RTX] Pratt & Whitney division, the maker of the F-35’s F135 engine, “in the aggregate value of CZK 15.3 billion,” the Czech Ministry of Defense said on Jan. 29. “Those will see the participation of 13 Czech enterprises and universities involved in four areas: manufacture of components, research and development, pilot training and maintenance, F-35 maintenance and servicing.”
The Czech F-35A fleet is to reach full operational capability in 2035. Lockheed Martin said that the aircraft will be the latest Block 4 configuration.
“By the 2030s, more than 600 F-35s will work together from more than 10 European countries, including two full U.S. F-35 squadrons stationed at Royal Air Force Lakenheath,” the company said.
Last September, the Czech government approved the F-35 buy (Defense Daily, Sept. 27, 2023).
“By the end of March 2024, it was necessary to complete a variety of administrative steps and formally conclude this phase of realization of this strategic project through entering into the Memorandum of Understanding between the Czech and U.S. Government and the so-called Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA), whose acceptance executes an agreement with the U.S. Government,” the Czech Ministry of Defense said on Jan. 29.
Russia’s second assault on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 spurred NATO concerns on how the alliance will be able to deter future Russian aggression.
Less than a month after Russia’s invasion in 2022, Germany announced its plan to buy 35 F-35As to replace the Tornado fighters in the German fleet by 2030 (Defense Daily, March 14, 2022). Last December, Germany became the ninth foreign military sales country for the F-35.
In addition to Germany’s, Finland’s and Switzerland’s F-35 contract signings in 2022, the State Department in June last year approved a $5.62 billion deal with the Czech Republic for the 24 F-35s and related equipment to replace that country’s Saab Gripen fighters.
The State Department’s approval last June of the Czech F-35A deal also includes 70 RTX AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles, 80 GBU-53/B StormBreaker precision-guided glide bombs and 50 AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles.