Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF)

[WatcherZero]

What exactly did Portugal announce and what are they now walking back? Looks like its walking back "plans to buy F-35 in the future"..So not even sure of whether they were at the LOI stage or left of that.

They selected F-35 and had commenced service integration talks with Lockheed Martin and the USAF to prepare their armed forces for its introduction (training, procurement, logistics chain, basing requirements, etc..). Lockheed Martin had deployed staff to Monte Real air base to assess infrastructure requirements for the aircraft. They hadn't placed a signed order for airframes but they weren't considering any alternatives.

 

[bring_it_on]

They selected F-35 and had commenced service integration talks with Lockheed Martin and the USAF to prepare their armed forces for its introduction (training, procurement, logistics chain, basing requirements, etc..). Lockheed Martin had deployed staff to Monte Real air base to assess infrastructure requirements for the aircraft. They hadn't placed a signed order for airframes but they weren't considering any alternatives.

In actual contractual terms where were they in the process*? Source selection? Formal LOI to GOTUS, approved FMS case? Signed Contract? If it is left of LOI, they were effectively just getting started so hardly a 'cancellation'. Any process that's left of that can be walked backwards and re-started at a future date if things change.

*In other words, what was the probability of a signed contract in 2 years? 5 years?

 

[Sintra]

In actual contractual terms where were they in the process*? Source selection? Formal LOI to GOTUS, approved FMS case? Signed Contract? If it is left of LOI, they were effectively just getting started so hardly a 'cancellation'. Any process that's left of that can be walked backwards and re-started at a future date if things change.

*In other words, what was the probability of a signed contract in 2 years? 5 years?

Left of LOI.
Chances of signed contract in 2 years, slightly better (but just slightly...) than a signed contract with Iran. In 5 years, possible but i wouldnt make a bet on it.