Military Procurement International Vol. 19, No. 7, April 1, 2009
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9, Switzerland. It is unlawful to reproduce any of this publication without written permission from the publisher.
ITALY
To approve purchase of 131 F-35s
The Italian Government has set in motion a 30-day parliamentary consultation that appears certain to approve the country’s acquisition of 74 Lockheed Martin F-35A Conventional Take-Off and Landing (CTOL) Joint Strike Fighters and 57 Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) variants, plus the construction of the only F-35 assembly plant outside the USA, at Cameri Air Base. Cameri will assemble the 216 aircraft required by the Italian and Royal Netherlands air forces.
Italy is to receive its first six F-35s, from the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Batch 6, in 2011 and the remainder through 2023.