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The Lockheed Martin industry team has been awarded annualized contracts covering fiscal years 2021-2023 to support operations and sustainment of the global F-35 aircraft fleet.
The new contracts, awarded by the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office, will support mission readiness and aim to further reduce sustainment costs.
The annual contracts fund critical sustainment activities for aircraft currently in the fleet and build enterprise capacity to support the future fleet of more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft. Work will include base and depot maintenance, pilot and maintainer training, and sustaining engineering for the U.S. and its allies. It will also cover fleet-wide data analytics and supply chain management for part repair and replenishment to enhance overall supply availability for the fleet.
“Together with the F-35 Joint Program Office, we recognize the critical role the F-35 plays in supporting our customers’ global missions and the need to deliver this capability affordably,” said Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager of the F-35 program.
“These contracts represent more than a 30% reduction in cost per flying hour from the 2020 annualized contract, and exemplify the trusted partnership and commitment we share to reduce sustainment costs and increase availability for this unrivaled 5th generation weapon system.”
Lockheed Martin has reduced cost per flight hour by 44% in the past five years, and now it intends to reduce the cost by an additional 40% in the next five years. These additional savings are expected to be achieved through improved cost and velocity in our supply chain, continued reliability improvements, and greater manpower efficiencies to provide product support solutions across the growing, global fleet.
The contracts also pave the way for a longer-term, Performance Based Logistics (PBL) agreement for the F-35 program. PBLs are an industry best practice, facilitating agile sustainment solutions for the fleet and incentivizing even further affordability and performance results.
The F-35 Joint Program Office, together with each U.S. service, international operators and the F-35 industry team, leads F-35 sustainment and the Global Support Solution.
