SABCA Group, a top tier Belgian aerospace company, has reached agreement with Lockheed Martin on supplier opportunities for the actuation systems on the F-35 Lightning II 5th generation fighter planes. The statement was signed by both companies 15 Sept. 2019 during the Sanicole Air Show. This opens the door for SABCA to pursue valuable contracts to provide actuation systems not only to Lockheed Martin.

 F-35 Lightning II (Picture source: US Air Force)

“We are happy to get this stamp of approval from Lockheed Martin, recognizing SABCA Group as one of the few companies worldwide capable of working on the most complex and advanced fighter jet in the world,” said SABCA Group CEO Thibauld Jongen. “This is a great sign of recognition to our employees, who work hard to provide the best equipment, and be agile partners for our customers.”

Jongen said that the F-35 program will help SABCA Group grow its business. “Our agreement presents us with a great opportunity to push ourselves forward and further improve our technology solutions and manufacturing processes” he said. “Developments made during the F-35 project will most certainly help us to also provide novel solutions and do more business in aviation sector.”

SABCA already provides and maintains actuation systems for Lockheed Martin’s F-16 fighter jet since many years and for different space launchers such as Ariane 5 and 6, and for Vega and Vega C.  Actuation systems are like the muscles of the airplane or launcher, moving its different parts.

“We examined SABCA Group closely, looking at their ability to design, manufacture, assemble and test complex safety-critical actuation systems for the F-35.  It gave us great insights into the expertise and capabilities of SABCA. We are happy to have found once again a sound partner in SABCA Group” said Lockheed Martin Yung Le, Business Development Director.

SABCA reaching agreement with Lockheed Martin is a positive outcome of the Essential Security Interests framework that enables the Belgian aerospace industry to contribute to the development and delivery of the F-35.

The SABCA Group, conducts operations from the three Belgian regions (Brussels Capital Region, Charleroi in Wallonia, and Lummen in Flanders), as well as from Casablanca, Morocco. Today, SABCA demonstrates a large palette of expertise, built over its almost 100 years of experience in designing, manufacturing, maintaining, and upgrading large and complex elements for aircraft and space launchers. Its customers and partners belong to the elite of the aerospace industry. SABCA offers a full range of services to the civil, space and military aviation markets and recently expanded into the commercial UAS market as an integrator of aerospace-grade solutions for the industry.

Signing of the agreement during Sanicole Air Show  (Picture source: Lockheed Martin)