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.
