The American side is trying to speed up the response procedures to the Greek letter of request (Letter of Request) for a letter of offer and acceptance (Letter of Offer and Acceptance) for the fifth generation F-35 fighter program. Despite the bureaucratic set-up of the Pentagon machinery, there is a full understanding of the situation in Greece and the complications it may have for the agreement to supply 20 F-35s with the option for 20 more, which is why it has been decided that the response will reach in Athens in a period of time long before the 2023 elections, in order to give space for the necessary negotiations.
The acceleration of the procedures is, of course, also linked to a very technical issue. Any response to a “LoR for LoA” process (as it is referred to for short) is based on calculations that take into account current orders and deliveries, which already after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, especially with regard to the F-35, have grown.
The Pentagon study, which is unusual by American standards, also reflects the very positive atmosphere that prevailed in the contacts that were successively held in the US in July, first by the head of the National Security Agency, Konstantinos Floros, and then by the Minister of National Defense, Nikos Panagiotopoulos. In both cases, the contacts with both the Pentagon officials and the executives of the manufacturing company “Lockheed Martin” convinced the Americans that the Greek side is determined to join the F-35 program, which is in full development phase . It is recalled that for the total of 40 F-35s, the cost is estimated at around 3.5 billion euros, while there should also be the corresponding infrastructure to accommodate a fifth generation aircraft, which currently do not exist in Greece.
The Air Force (AF) has requested an investigation into the suitability of three air bases and, specifically, the 115th Fighter Wing (FW) in Souda, the 117th F.M. in Andravida and of 116 B.M. in Araxos. In the research carried out by levels of the American Air Force and “Lockheed Martin”, the range of interventions that must be done in order to make the specific air bases suitable for the reception and service of the F-35 is also examined.
It is obvious that the suggestion of three bases, all located in Western Greece and the western part of Crete, reflects the choice of P.A. to keep the F-35 away from the Aegean and the eastern mainland. This is, of course, a choice based on the fact that, even from Western Greece, the Eastern Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean are within range of the F-35.
