The U.S. State Department has approved a potential sale of over $8 billion worth of F-35 aircraft to Germany, moving closer to providing Berlin with new fighter aircraft for nuclear deterrence missions.
The State Department on Thursday
announced the foreign military sales (FMS) approval for up to 35 F-35A aircraft, along with munitions and related equipment, for a total estimated cost of $8.4 billion.
These fighter jets, built by Lockheed Martin, will take over by 2030 the nuclear weapons mission from the German Air Force’s aging fleet of PA-200 Tornado aircraft, based at Tactical Air Wing 33 in Büchel, Germany.