During the late '60s, when the Lightning was no longer considered "cutting edge" and the RAF was in the process of acquiring F-4 Phantoms, the MoD greenlit the export of the Lightning to close Middle Eastern allies, namely Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The export variants were divided into two types, the Lightning F.52 being ex-RAF Lightning F.6 converted for export, and F.53 being newly built specialized ground-attack export models of the F.6, with more hardpoints for bombs or unguided rocket pods. A total of 46 were built, 12 F.53Ks for the Kuwaiti Air Force and 34 F.53s for the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force, with one aircraft crashing during shakedown tests before delivery, resulting in a hasty replacement F.53 being rebuilt from an old F.6 airframe to meet the delivery time. Saudi Arabia received their first F.53 in 1967, and would extensively use them until 1986 when the Saudis started trying to acquire the Tornado IDS to replace it, which they successfully completed in 1989 with the first Tornado IDS deliveries in that same year.

Introduced in Update "Danger Zone" as a premium pack, Lightning F.53 is a more ground-attack oriented version of the Lightning F.6 in the tech tree, and as such, is slightly heavier, meaning the already mediocre air-to-air performance at that BR of the Lightning is now slightly worse. The F.53 shines in frontline high speed ground attack runs thanks to its insanely large amount of unguided rockets (up to 192) across underwing pods, overwing pods, and an internal rocket bay. The F.53 is indeed a unique and peculiar aircraft which does not particularly excel at many things, and acts best as a collector aircraft for people interested in the rich history of Middle Eastern military aviation.

The Lightning F.53 was removed from the Gaijin store after the 2022 "Winter sale". It was briefly made available for purchase with Golden Eagles for the 2023 anniversary of its first flight.