Lockheed Martin’s proposal for maritime patrol aircraft

A proposal for the procurement of four P-3C ASW/maritime patrol aircraft was submitted to the Greek Ministry of Defense by Lockheed Martin. The proposal was accompanied by a statement of the company’s Vice President Business Development Initiatives, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Dennis Plessas, who more or less said that these aircraft are required because Greece must supervise its waters, in the light of developments in the demarcation of the Greek EEZ . Furthermore, he restored the company’s proposal for the upgrade of the Greek F-16s, for a total amount of $850 million to $1.2 billion if the program includes all 157 existing aircraft.Lockheed Martin’s executive, Dennis Plessas, speaking at an event in the 76th TIF, argued that the six P-3B maritime patrol aircraft that Greece has today have been acquired in 1993 as surplus from the U.S. Navy and were decommissioned two years ago.Lockheed proposed a procurement of four P-3C from the U.S. Navy, which will be radically upgraded by the company, extending their “life” until 2035. The cost of all upgrades, he said, would be less than 250 million dollars, which is the cost for restoring the old aircraft.He also argued that “the acquisition of maritime patrol aircraft for the Navy is the top priority, because the surveillance of the EEZ is now added to other operational needs”.Regarding the upgrade program of F-16, he noted that it may take six years to complete and that within five years Turkey will receive its first F-35’s as part of an order of 100 aircraft awarded to Lockheed.An F-16 costs about 50 million dollars, while an F-35 will cost about 60 million dollars, when it will get into mass production at rates of 220-240 aircraft per year.In the period 1992-2016, Lockheed is expected to generate credits for offset programs of over $ 3.5 billion in Greece.According to Mr. Plessas, the cooperation with the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI), regarding the production of parts for F-16 and C-130J aircraft exported to the global market is very good. The only difficulty in working with the state owned HAI, is that the terms of the memorandum pause restrictions in making necessary recruitments in order to easily cover increases in production.By 2013, contracts with the HAI are expected to reach $180 million. Regarding the F-16 and C-130J programs HAI ‘s turnover grow 600% between 2011 and 2004. Total income for both programs is expected to exceed $1 billion and the program for the C-130J is estimated to quadruple jobs.