In November, General João Cartaxo Alves, Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Air Force (Força Aérea Portuguesa), unveiled the “Air Force 5.3” transformation plan, which mentioned the acquisition of MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) drones. ), light attack aircraft and, above all, fifth-generation F-35A fighter-bombers.
However, the Military Programming Law (LPM) approved in March 2023 having said nothing on this subject, General Cartaxo Alves explained that it would be up to political leaders to specify the “implementation” of this project aimed at replacing , ultimately, the FAP F-16s.
Moreover, to Breaking Defense, a spokesperson for the Portuguese Minister of Defense, who was then Helena Carreiras, made it clear that there was “no acquisition process” of new planes to replace the F-16s. And to qualify the words of General Cartaxo Alves as a “vision for the future”.
Indeed, the Portuguese LPM provides for an envelope of 5.5 billion euros to finance, by 2034, eight major acquisitions of which the F-35 is not part. However, the text must be updated in 2027… Which could change the situation, especially since the political majority has just changed sides.
However, the FAP chief of staff would, a priori, like a decision to be taken quickly to replace the F-16s. In any case, this is what he strongly suggested during a published interview by the newspaper Diário de Notícias, last week.
Thus, when addressing the question of military aid provided by Lisbon to kyiv, General Cartaxo Alves recalled that if the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium were able to promise Ukraine to deliver F-16s is because they are already putting F-35As into service.
“These countries went from the F-16 to the F-35. We haven’t done it yet. We had 40 F-16s and we sold 12 to Romania. The 28 we have are the ones we need to fulfill the commitments we have made. And we cannot abandon them until we make this transition to the F-35,” he argued.
“Right now our F-16s are the same as those owned by the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. What will happen ? We’re obviously getting to the point where they’ve been in service for 30 years. Are we going to follow the same path as these countries? », then asked General Cartaxo Alves.
“They need to be replaced because even if this decision is made now, the first plane (F-35) will only arrive in seven years,” he continued. And to emphasize that, whatever happens, it will be necessary to continue to deal with the obsolescence of the F-16s, which could prove more and more costly as time passes.
In any case, and even if “no process” to replace the Portuguese F-16 has been launched, the transition to the F-35 has already begun, according to the FAP commander . “We organized a workshop here, with Lockheed and the US Air Force, to understand what this transition to the fifth generation is,” he said, before adding that the transition to a new aircraft of combat “will extend over approximately two decades, with an estimated expenditure of 5.5 billion euros”.