5
Lockheed Martin and its industry partners
to ramp up production while confidence
was built in the overall capabilities.
Increasing the production rate is the key
to driving down manufacturing costs. As
production volume increases and additional
efficiencies are implemented, Lockheed
Martin says it is on track to reduce the cost
of an F-35A to $80m by 2020. Production
Lot 10 F-35As delivered in 2018 will cost
$94.3m whereas the F-35B and F-35C will
respectively cost $122.4m and $121.2m.
Those costs represent a reduction of 7.5%
for the F-35A, and around $6.2% for the
F-35B and F-35C over the Lot 9 aircraft.
“The F-35 weapons system is a key enabler
of our National Defense Strategy and is
providing our warfighters the combat
proven, advanced capabilities they need to
meet mission requirements,” said VADM Mat
Winter, F-35 programme executive officer
for the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO).
“The 300th production aircraft delivery is
a significant milestone that highlights the
effective F-35 enterprise collaboration across
the JPO, US services, partners and industry.
“Moving forward, our F-35 team remains
committed to driving costs down,
quality up, and faster delivery timelines
across our development, production
and sustainment lines of effort.”
The first 300 F-35s include 197 F-35As,
75 F-35Bs and 28 F-35Cs that have
been delivered to US and international
customers. As of June, more than 620 pilots
and 5,600 maintainers had been trained,
and the F-35 fleet had surpassed more
than 140,000 cumulative flight hours.
The F-35 team met its 2017 delivery
target of 66 aircraft, representing more
than a 40% increase over 2016. In 2018,
the team is targeting 91 aircraft deliveries
and is preparing to increase production
volume year-over-year to hit a rate of
approximately 160 aircraft in 2023.
The fighters are in production at three
locations comprising Lockheed Martin’s Fort
Worth, Texas, facility, and at Final Assembly
and Checkout (FACO) facilities in Nagoya,
Japan, and Cameri, Italy, that are operated
by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and
Leonardo’s Aircraft Division respectively.As SDD testing wrapped up, the full
warfighting Block 3F software standard
aircraft were being handed over to the
Initial Operational Test and Evaluation
(IOT&E) effort that sits under the Joint
Operational Test Team (JOTT). Clearing
the IOT&E hurdle will give the green light
and confidence for full-rate production.
Follow-on modernisation for the Lightning
II is now expected to cost around $16bn
between fiscal year 2018 and 2024. The
fighter’s Continuous Capability Development
and Delivery (C2D2) strategy will add new
capabilities to the aircraft throughout its
life in regular ‘pulses’ of enhancement.
The Lightning II has reached initial
operating capability with the USAF, US
Marine Corps, Italian Air Force and the Israeli
Air Force, and has been thrown into combat
action by the latter. The characteristics,
technology and design features of this game-
changing fighter are well documented,
and this magazine follows the F-35’s
entry into the operational arena.
Jamie Hunter
Author and editorF-