Lockheed Martin awarded $1.28B Pentagon F-35 contract

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.28 billion sustainable contract from the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office.

This Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) supports operations and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet through June 30, 2021.

“This contract ensures F-35s remain ready to fly and accomplish the warfighter’s mission,” Bill Brotherton, Lockheed Martin F-35 program acting vice president and general manager, said. “We continue to see improvements in readiness and cost, and as the fleet grows, so does the opportunity for the joint government and industry team to collaborate, realizing even more long-term benefits.”

The UCA provides sustainment activities for a worldwide fleet while negotiations continue about a long-term contract to support the future fleet of more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft. The UCA funds operations worldwide, individual bases, depot maintenance, pilot and maintainer training, and sustainment engineering worldwide. It also covers fleet-wide data analytics and supply chain management for part repair and replenishment.

The reliability of F-35’s continues to improve. Newer production aircraft average greater than 70 percent mission capable rates, with some operational squadrons consistently near 75 percent. The cost per flight hour has also decreased by more than 40 percent during the last five years. To further improve readiness and cost stability, the enterprise is building supply capacity, synchronizing spare buys, improving parts reliability and maintainability, implementing advanced analytics tools, accelerating modifications of earlier aircraft, and supporting the stand-up of government-led regional warehouses and repair depots.

Lockheed Martin, along with partners BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman, provides critical sustainment support for over 600 aircraft in key areas such as training, base operations, repairs, global supply, and sustainment support to F-35 customers. The 600 F-35 aircraft are operating from 26 bases around the globe. More than 1,200 pilots and 10,000 maintainers have been trained, and the F-35 fleet has surpassed more than 345,000 cumulative flight hours.