American defense company Lockheed Martin has entered the competition to supply fighters to Portugal, presenting its fifth-generation F-35 proposal during a visit by Portuguese journalists to one of the company's facilities. The American firm has already developed several projects it plans to pursue with local universities as well as defense and aerospace companies.
From Defense Express's perspective, the contest for Portugal's fighter contract will be genuinely fierce and is already underway, even though no formal competition has been officially announced.
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It is also worth noting that alongside the F-35 from Lockheed Martin and the Gripen from Saab, a third option exists in the pan-European Eurofighter Typhoon. The most compelling rivalry, however, will be between the American and Swedish fighters.
Portugal is ultimately seeking a replacement for its F-16s — a question that is directly relevant to Ukraine, which may or may not be able to count on those second-hand jets.
As reported by Infodefensa, if Portugal ultimately selects the F-35, Lockheed Martin is prepared to localize component production in the country, though which components have not been specified, and to establish maintenance facilities. F-35 Program Director of International Business Development Robert Weiman described in-country component production as an absolutely realistic proposition.
In the component production contest, however, Saab has already taken the lead: as the Swedish company previously announced, Portugal is already participating in the production of components for the Gripen, and Saab is prepared to offer a flexible proposal for the Portuguese Air Forces including the scenario of procuring two fighter types to strengthen the fleet, though that is almost certainly a very unlikely outcome.
It is also worth recalling that for Portugal, as is often the case for other countries, the fighter selection will carry both practical and political dimensions. The country has already seen public debate over whether to trust the United States given the unpredictability of President Donald Trump, while the air force emphasized as recently as last year that all available options would be evaluated, with that assessment forming the basis of the final decision on an F-16 replacement.
Portugal's Air Force currently operates 28 F-16 fighters, 24 F-16AM and 4 F-16BM variants. The retirement of Portuguese F-16s opens the question of whether they could bolster Ukraine's air force.
As Defense Express has previously examined in the context of Portugal's plans to participate in sixth-generation fighter development, this is at minimum a medium-term prospect.
Defense Express previously reported on how the Gripen would show what it can and cannot do against an F-35that is denied its primary advantage.
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