The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $211 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the procurement of production non-recurring special tooling and special test equipment for F-35 aircraft, the Department of Defense said on Monday.
This comes after the Navy awarded the company a $3.7 billion modification to the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 11 F-35 advance acquisition for 50 additional aircraft for non-DoD participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. The funds were obligated via an Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) to continue building LRIP Lot 11 aircraft prior to a final agreement on price (Defense Daily, July 29).
This later tooling and test equipment modification is required to meet current and future F-35 production rates, the department said in the contract announcement.
The F-35 tooling and test equipment procurement is not directly associated with the additional LRIP 11 acquisition, but will fund “equipment required to meet current and future F-35 production rates associated with the recent UCA and future production contracts” more generally, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson told Defense Daily in a statement.
The special tooling and special test equipment procurement contract is expected to be finished by May 2021. At the time of award, $81 million was obligated at award time, with $42.7 million of that set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Separately, NAVAIR awarded Lockheed Martin a $219 million modification to a previously awarded contract for recurring global logistics support and sustainment services for F-35 aircraft on July 28.
This award is for F-35s in support of Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, non-DoD participants, and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. The sustainment services include ground maintenance activities; action request resolution; depot activation activities; Automatic Logistics Information System operations and maintenance; reliability, maintainability and health management implementation and support; supply chain management; and activities to provide and support pilot and maintainer initial training.
This award is also not directly tied to the new LRIP 11 order but these support and sustainment services cover them as part of overall F-35 services.
“F-35 global logistics support and sustainment services are vital to ensuring all fielded F-35 aircraft are mission ready throughout their entire life cycle to meet warfighter needs,” the company said in a statement to Defense Daily.
Work is expected to be finished by Feb. 2018. Funding comes from 2017 Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps operations and maintenance accounts as well as non-DoD participant and FMS accounts. DoD said $116 million of the total funding will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.