Lockheed Martin prepares to build 94 F-35 jet joint strike fighters in $920.4 million contract
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md., 5 June 2015. The U.S. military is placing orders worth nearly a billion dollars with Lockheed Martin Corp. to prepare for building 94 F-35 jet Lightning II joint strike fighter combat aircraft. The order involves conventional and vertical takeoff and landing versions, as well as carrier versions.
Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. -- the organization handling F-35 aviation technology procurement for all military forces -- announced a $920.4 million contract late Thursday with the Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) Aeronautics segment in Fort Worth, Texas, for long lead items involves with 94 F-35 aircraft.
Long-lead items either are difficult and time-consuming to obtain, and are funded early in the aircraft design process to keep overall production on schedule. Contracts to build the 94 F-35 combat aircraft will come later.
The F-35 is a fifth-generation single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole jet fighter-bomber designed to perform ground attack, aerial reconnaissance, and air defense missions. It is one of the most advanced combat jets in the world.
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The contract announced Thursday involves several different low-rate initial production versions of the F-35 for several U.S. military and foreign buyers.
This contract provides for 78 conventional takeoff and landing F-35A aircraft -- 44 for the U.S. Air Force, two for Italy, two for Turkey, eight for Australia, six for Norway, and 16 for other foreign militaries.
The contract also involves 14 vertical- and short-takeoff versions of the F-35B -- nine for the U.S. Marine Corps, three for Britain, and two for Italy. Finally, the contract involves two carrier-based F-35C aircraft for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
The F-35 is designed to replace U.S. F-16, A-10, F/A-18, and AV-8B tactical fighter and attack aircraft. Lockheed Martin has been developing the F-35 since 2001, and the first fully equipped and battle-ready U.S. F-35 squadron should be ready next year.
Lockheed Martin and its partners will do the work on this contract in Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo, Calif.; Warton, England; Orlando, Fla.; Nashua, N.H.; Baltimore; and Cameri, Italy,, and should be finished by May 2019.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin online at www.f35.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
