Lockheed Martin [LMT] has received a nearly $607 million contract for long-lead items for 173 of the company’s F-35 fighters in Lot 19.
The DoD contract announcement on Aug. 22 is to support Lot 19 buys by the U.S. and foreign nations.
Foreign military sales account for about $330 million of the contract, while $277 million is domestic.
“Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (59%); El Segundo, California (14%); Warton, United Kingdom (9%); Cameri, Italy (4%); Orlando, Florida (4%); Nashua, New Hampshire (3%); Baltimore, Maryland (3%); San Diego, California (2%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (2%), and is expected to be completed in January 2028,” DoD said on Aug. 22
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The U.S. Air Force’s fiscal 2024 budget request said that the advance procurement funding “will support airframe and engine long-lead parts and materials necessary to protect the delivery schedules of the FY2025 production, as well as associated termination liability.”
“No savings are projected with the AP funding, rather it is required to support Airframe and Engine long-lead parts and materials necessary to protect the Lot 19 production base and delivery schedules,” the service said.
Among the long-lead items are components for the F-35’s Technology Refresh-3 upgrade, such as the L3Harris [LHX] Integrated Core Processor and Aircraft Memory System, and Elbit’s panoramic cockpit display, as well as components for BAE Systems‘ aft fuselage and electronic warfare, Northrop Grumman‘s [NOC] center fuselage and wing skins, RTX‘s [RTX] Collins Aerospace landing gear, Israel Aerospace Industries‘ outer wing box; Ball Aerospace‘s [BLL] communications, navigation and identification integrated body apertures, and Fokker flaperons.
Long-lead items also include those for the RTX Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, including the high pressure turbine, the low pressure turbine, the turbine exhaust, compressor rotors and stators and Collins Aerospce inlet debris monitor signal conditioning units.
Lockheed Martin said on Aug. 23 that it is negotiating with DoD on the F-35 Lot 18-19 contract.