Lockheed Martin wins $30mn order for Japan's F-35A fighters production support

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Lockheed Martin wins $30mn order for Japan's F-35A fighters production support
 
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $30 million contract for additional engineering and hardware assembly services in support of the F-35A fighter jet low-rate initial production Lot 11 aircraft for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program, the US DoD announced on Monday.
     
The first JASDF F-35A fighter jet performing its maiden flight
(Credit: JASDF)
     
"Work will be performed in Nagoya, Japan (80 percent); and Baltimore, Maryland (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2018," the US DoD said. The US Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

The first Japanese-assembled F-35A was unveiled at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Komaki South F-35 Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility on June 5. The Japan F-35 FACO is operated by MHI with technical assistance from Lockheed Martin and oversight from the U.S. Government.


The Japanese Ministry of Defense competitively selected the F-35A as the JASDF's next-generation air defense fighter in December 2011, with a Foreign Military Sales program of record of 42 F-35As. The first four JASDF F-35As were previously delivered from the Fort Worth, Texas, production facility. Subsequent deliveries of 38 F-35A aircraft will come from the FACO here in Japan.

The F-35 Lightning II is a next-generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, advanced mission systems, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and cutting-edge sustainment. More than 220 operational F-35s have been built and delivered worldwide and they have collectively flown more than 95,000 flight hours.