Read previewGreece's military leadership has announced radical changes in its Armed Forces, particularly its air force, including plans to offload older combat aircraft and get new F-35 stealth jets. "Development and production concurrency is Block 4′s most critical challenge, and we are dealing with its consequences today," F-35 program executive officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt said in December. Advertisement"The F-35 [Joint Program Office], Lockheed Martin, and other industry partners have identified high risk concurrency in the F-35 Block 4 schedule, which would threaten to shut down aircraft production if development slips," he added. An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft flies over during an air show in Tel Aviv. For the air force, that means retiring and selling a variety of aircraft, such as F-4 jets, Mirage 2000-5 planes, and Block 30 F-16s.

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Persons: —, of Defense Nikos Dendias, Dendias, Michael Schmidt, Lockheed Martin, Frank Kendall, JACK GUEZ, Jon Ludwigson, Ludwigson, Greece's Organizations: Service, Armed Forces, of Defense, Business, Air Force, Israeli Air Force, Getty, Office, Armed Force, US State Department Locations: Greece, Tel Aviv, AFP