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Pentagon awards F-35 contract to start LRIP II
July 28, 2007 (by
Lieven Dewitte) -
The Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.4 billion contract Friday to begin work on the second batch (LRIP II) of F-35 Lightning IIs.
The funds, appropriated by Congress in the 2007 defense budget, allow Lockheed and other contractors to purchase "long lead time" materials and components required to produce six F-35A CTOL for the U.S. Air Force and six F-35B STOVL for the U.S. Marine Corps.
In addition, the contract provides for associated ancillary mission equipment, sustainment support, special tooling/special test equipment and technical/financial data. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (75.5 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (15.6 percent); and Samlesbury, United Kingdom (8.9 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2011.
Congress would have to appropriate a similar amount of money in the fiscal year 2008 defense budget to complete work on all 12 airplanes, the first of which won't be delivered until 2010.
The Pentagon asked for funds in the 2007 budget to complete five planes, but Congress approved two.
The F-35, took off for its first flight on 15 December 2006 from NAS JRB Fort Worth, Texas.
In addition, the contract provides for associated ancillary mission equipment, sustainment support, special tooling/special test equipment and technical/financial data. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (75.5 percent); El Segundo, Calif. (15.6 percent); and Samlesbury, United Kingdom (8.9 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2011.
Congress would have to appropriate a similar amount of money in the fiscal year 2008 defense budget to complete work on all 12 airplanes, the first of which won't be delivered until 2010.
The Pentagon asked for funds in the 2007 budget to complete five planes, but Congress approved two.
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- USMC and Navy JSF assembly reaches milestones ( 2006-12-20)
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