Lockheed Martin, Pentagon sign F-35 aircraft agreement

Lockheed Martin has received a $1.9 billion F-35 Joint Program Office contract to support operations and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet in 2020.

“The F-35 continues to deliver exceptional capabilities to the field, and this contract ensures F-35s are mission ready to meet warfighter needs,” Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program, said. “The joint government and industry team continues to make significant progress improving readiness rates and reducing sustainment costs. In 2020, we will continue to optimize and advance the sustainment system. We are confident F-35 sustainment costs will be equal to or less than legacy jets.”

The effort would fund critical sustainment activities for aircraft currently in the fleet. It would also build enterprise capacity to support the future fleet of more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft.

The scope of work includes industry sustainment experts supporting base and depot maintenance, pilot and maintainer training, and sustaining engineering across the globe. It also covers fleet-wide data analytics and supply chain management for part repair and replenishment to enhance overall supply availability for the fleet.

Lockheed Martin officials indicated more than 490 aircraft, including 134 in 2019, have been delivered and are operating from 21 bases around the globe while more than 975 pilots and 8,585 maintainers have been trained.