F-35 Program Docs

LM posts Government to LM buy letters / somesuch official documentation via US gubmint? Anyway they are slack for sure.

It's that time of year... Rumor has it ALIS is acting up at the Pole somewhere's north of here... and the fatman in the redsuit is raising gingerbread snaps with the Ft Worth folks to get his EOTS and DAS workin as a Blitzen backup to the rednose guy in front. So Ize guess He's gots the Panther Den in a tizzy and the marketing folks took their eye off the ball, errr spherical ornament for a time...

LM F-35 Fast Facts 02 Jan 2020 attached below:

https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... 1_2020.pdf

LM F-35 Fast Facts 02 Jan 2020 attached below:

https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... 1_2020.pdf

They didn't add S. Korea's IOC declaration.

2019 DOT&E report has been released: https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub ... 115432-173

2019 DOT&E report has been released: https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub ... 115432-173

Does anyone really care at this point? Does really matter anymore what the DOT&E report says? Every year the DOT&E says there are deficiencies. Every year people say there are or find new problems for the aircraft. Yet every year more are built, more are flown, more enter operational status.

2019 DOT&E report has been released: https://www.dote.osd.mil/Portals/97/pub ... 115432-173

Does anyone really care at this point? Does really matter anymore what the DOT&E report says? Every year the DOT&E says there are deficiencies. Every year people say there are or find new problems for the aircraft. Yet every year more are built, more are flown, more enter operational status.

Exactly! They're so deficient that their MC rates are continually rising, while their unit cost and CPFH are continually dropping, and current/future customers can't buy them fast enough.

Auditors get paid to find weaknesses, not solutions.

258,000 flight hours: LM F-35 Fast Facts 03 Feb 2020: https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... ._2020.pdf

I think it matters in sense that it identifies what needs to be fixed, not that the aircraft won't be effective. Nobody likes the one who finds and points out problems but they have their place.

International F-35 sales [Five page PDF of article attached below]
Mar 2020 AFM Alan Warnes

"Fifth-generation fighters are a priority requirement for many of the world’s leading air forces. As Alan Warnes explains, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the weapon of choice for the US and many of its allies.

Almost 30 years after development commenced in 1992, 491 F-35s had been delivered by the end of 2019 – 123 of them to international customers...."

Source: AirForces Monthly March 2020 Issue 384

UK First 48 F-35B's, remainder likely to be F-35A's yet no decision yet made..........

04 March 2020 LM F-35 Fast Facts PDF attached: https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... 5_2020.pdf

"268,000 flight hours" and no more TURKEY mentions.

ASLO (I KNOW): https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a6 ... y_3.3..png

Let's hope Congress increases the orders for F-35C's. As current rates are inadequate....

Can someone make sense of this other than what is written in these gobbledegook contract announcements out of the blue.

Contracts For March 31, 2020
NAVY

"Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $4,708,927,970 modification (P00033) to previously-awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm-target, firm-fixed-price contract N00019-17-C-0001. This modification is for the procurement of 78 F-35 combat aircraft (48 F-35A combat aircraft for the Air Force, 14 F-35B combat aircraft for the Marine Corps, 16 F-35C fighter aircraft for the Navy) and associated aircraft red gear. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (63%); El Segundo, California (14%); Warton, United Kingdom (9%); Orlando, Florida (4%); Nashua, New Hampshire (3%); Baltimore, Maryland (3%); San Diego, California (2%); and various locations within and outside the continental U.S. (2%). Work is expected to be complete by March 2023. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $2,723,463,387 will be obligated at time of award and fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,985,464,583 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $202,800,000 cost-plus-incentive-fee, undefinitized contract that provides engineering, maintenance, logistics manpower and material support to continue to develop, sustain and produce software builds as well as carryout developmental flight tests in support of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Work will be performed at Edwards Air Force Base, California (40%); Patuxent River, Maryland (39%); Fort Worth, Texas (12%); and Orlando, Florida (9%). This contract action also provides unique sea trials on aircraft carriers for non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants. Work is expected to be complete by September 2020. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $23,962,188; fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $23,962,189; fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,380,036; fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Air Force) funds in the amount of $11,380,036; and non-DoD participant funds in the amount of $14,860,313 will be obligated at time of award, $22,760,072 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-20-C-0037)."

Source: https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contra ... vDelivery/

Its just the lot 14 order. Its a contract mod cos they're not setting a new contract for lot 14 (follows lot 12 per link below). You can tell by the same contract number.

https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contra ... e/1167080/

btw $4.7b is not the full cost either because long lead items are ordered in advance. It does mean lot 14 delivery should be complete by Mar 2023. Also shows ~90% of the work (for this contract mod) is done in the US. The $2.7 and $1.99b split reflects the allocation of FY 2020 budget funds which has been approved from USAF and USN respectively.