The government of Czech Republic has authorized its defense ministry to facilitate the procurement of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets from the U.S. government to support the modernization of the country’s armed forces.
“I was authorised to form an inter-ministerial negotiating team and commence negotiations with the United States Government to procure 24 units of the F-35 Lightning II multirole fighters to equip two squadrons,” Jana Cernochova, defense minister of Czech Republic, said in a statement published Wednesday.
Cernochova said the government’s decision to acquire the Lockheed Martin-built fighter aircraft comes amid increasing costs of weapon systems and scarcity of materials and production capacity, resulting in longer lead times.
The government said sharing the same aircraft with the U.S. and other NATO allies will help strengthen cooperation, capability sharing and joint training and improve its defense posture.
Czech Republic also announced plans to buy CV90 combat vehicles from the government of Sweden after it decided to drop the tender for infantry fighting vehicles.
