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Reuters
US steps toward F-35 fighter production By Jim Wolf
59 minutes ago
The U.S. Defense Department said on Friday it approved the first step toward production of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s (NYSE:LMT - news) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the costliest weapons purchase program in history.
The decision cleared Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier based on sales, to start tooling up for the first five F-35s to be built for the U.S. Air Force even though the aircraft has yet to fly.
The United States is developing three variants of the single-engine, supersonic, radar-evading F-35 with Britain and seven other international partners.
The project is expected to cost $256 billion through 2027 for the 2,593 aircraft that the United States and Britain plan to buy.
The export market could be worth another $200 billion, Pentagon officials have estimated. In addition to Britain, which has committed $2 billion to the project, overseas partners are Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.
A memorandum signed by Kenneth Krieg, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer, gave the Pentagon's F-35 program office a green light to contract for "long lead" materials, such as titanium, needed for the first "low-rate initial production" lot.
Lockheed's top subcontractors on the project are Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC - news), BAE Systems Plc (BA.L) and United Technologies Corp.'s (NYSE:UTX - news) Pratt & Whitney unit.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office had urged the Pentagon to delay F-35 production until it has a better grip on costs and the technical maturity of major systems. Less than one percent of the F-35 test program has been completed.
Lockheed wants to start production next year for a first delivery in 2009 even though the aircraft is not scheduled to fly for the first time until October.
"The F-35 possesses the highest levels of technical maturity and lowest levels of technical risk of any fighter in history at this stage of development," said Thomas Jurkowsky, a Lockheed spokesman.
The company is confident about moving into low-rate production thanks to advances in digital-design tools, manufacturing technology and experience gained in building its F-22A "Raptor" fighter, he said.
The F-35 is designed to replace a host of aging warplanes, including U.S. Air Force A-10s and F-16s, U.S. Navy F/A-18s, U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18s, plus British Harrier jump-jets and Sea Harriers. |
