Germany signs LOA for F-35 purchase

Germany has formally signed the Letter of Acceptance for 35 F-35 aircraft. The deal is worth approximately $8.5B. The first aircraft will be delivered to the US for training in 2026, with them moving to Germany in 2027, and IOC in 2028. Construction is going to have to be fast, considering that the average time to build facilities, which include multiple Top Secret technologies, is six to seven years. The German government is hoping to consolidate permit and construction, to have the facilities ready to house the aircraft in 2027.

The German government announced a $107B fund set up after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The money for the F-35s is part of a $14B batch of procurements that will help improve readiness in the Germany military, which in recent years went from decent, to non-existent. In 2018 it was reported that, partially due to a coolant leak in aircraft sensors, roughly 10 of the Luftwaffe Typhoons were available. In 2017, the Bundeswehr reported to the German Parliament that 39 of 128 aircraft were combat ready.

WASHINGTON — German government leaders on Wednesday announced a deal to buy 35 F-35 fighter jets from the United States, a package pegged at $8.4 billion by the Pentagon in its offer from the summer.

Signature of the letter of acceptance caps Berlin’s years-long quest to replace the portion of its aging Tornado fleet tasked with carrying out NATO’s doctrine of nuclear weapons sharing. German officials had decided on the Lockheed Martin-made jet in the spring, setting in motion the purchasing process for the aircraft, weapons and spares.

Lawmakers approved the funding in a session of the parliamentary Budget Committee earlier on Wednesday. It’s part of a $14 billion batch of procurements German defense leaders will use to improve lackluster military capabilities over the coming years, drawing from a special $107 billion defense fund set up after Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

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Great, so the Germans will be ready to start another world war by 2030

On a serious note, it's good to see the NATO countries starting to take defense more seriously. Too bad it had to take a disaster like Ukraine for them to see some sense.

Love the additional context, as always Zaph. Good info about the facilities.

a reply to: face23785

It is not so much NATO as it was EU blindness about political realities beyond EU borders.

The EU also underestimates potential challenges that could emerge from Africa and the Middle East.

Cheers

a reply to: Zaphod58

It's crazy just how long these things take to go into practice.

Building the craft, training the pilots, housing the craft. 5 to 6 years for all of this just to have a few dozen of the fighter jets? Man, those things must be God's gift and something amazing in the sky.

a reply to: Thrumbo

The F-35 changes aerial warfare even more than the jet engine did when it was introduced. But it takes a lot to take care of her. The skin alone requires a lot of specialized equipment and training for the ground crews. The pilots are right on the edge of information overload. It takes quite a bit of time to go from the small amount of information the Typhoon or Tornado gives them, to the massive amount of information the F-35 gives them. It's like trying to drink through a straw, compared to drinking from a fire hose.