Lockheed Martin to build 129 F-35 jet fighter-bomber aircraft, avionics, and sensors for U.S. and allies

The F-35 is replacing U.S. F-16, A-10, F/A-18, and AV-8B tactical fighter and attack aircraft. Lockheed Martin has been developing the F-35 since 2001.

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PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – Combat aircraft designers at Lockheed Martin Corp. will build 129 F-35 jet fighter-bombers for U.S. military services and allies under terms of a $7.6 billion order announced on Friday.

Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md. — the organization handling F-35 aviation technology procurement for all military forces — are asking the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics segment in Fort Worth, Texas, to procure 129 Lot 15 F-35 joint strike fighter aircraft.

Of these aircraft, 49 F-35As will be for the U.S. Air Force; three F-35Bs and 10 F-35Cs for the U.S. Marine Corps; 15 F-35Cs for the U.S. Navy; 32 F-35As aircraft and four F-35Bs aircraft for non-U.S Department of Defense (DOD) participants; and 16 F-35A aircraft for U.S. allies. The contract includes 69 shipsets of technical hardware.

The F-35 with its advanced avionics is a fifth-generation single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole jet fighter-bomber designed to perform ground attack, aerial reconnaissance, and air defense missions. It is one of the most advanced combat jets in the world.

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Other than the U.S. military, F-35 operators include Australia; United Kingdom; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; Italy; Japan; The Netherlands; Norway; Poland; South Korea; Thailand; United Arab Emirates; Israel; and Singapore.

The F-35 is replacing U.S. F-16, A-10, F/A-18, and AV-8B tactical fighter and attack aircraft. Lockheed Martin has been developing the F-35 since 2001.

The single-seat F-35 military jet is 50.5 feet long, has 35-foot wingspan, and is 14 feet tall. It has one Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofan engine that can produce as much as 43,100 pounds of thrust.

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The aircraft can fly as fast as Mach 1.6, as high as 50,000 feet, and has a range of 1,200 miles. It has one 25-millimeter Gatling gun and can carry advanced air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, smart bombs, and conventional bombs.

The F-35’s avionics and sensors include the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 AESA radar; Lockheed Martin AAQ-40 electro-optical targeting system (EOTS); Northrop Grumman AN/AAQ-37 distributed aperture system (DAS) missile warning system; BAE Systems AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare (EW) suite; and Northrop Grumman AN/ASQ-242 communications and navigation system.

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The plane’s navigation and communications include the Harris Corp. Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL); Link 16 data link; single-channel ground and airborne radio system (SINCGARS); IFF interrogator and transponder; HAVE QUICK radio; AM, VHF, UHF AM, and UHF FM radio systems; GUARD survival radio; radar altimeter; tactical air navigation (TACAN); instrument landing system for conventional runways and aircraft carriers; the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS); and the TADIL-J tactical digital information link with Joint-Variable-Message-Format (JVMF) communications.

F-35 pilots wear a helmet-mounted display that enables them simply to look at a target to shoot weapons, rather than pointing the entire aircraft at the target.

The orientation of the pilot’s head provides missile seeker heads with targeting information.

The combat aircraft — one of the most expensive military weapon systems in history — is designed to perform ground attack, aerial reconnaissance, and air-to-air missions. U.S. military leaders say they plan to buy 2,457 aircraft.

The F-35 variants are intended to provide the bulk of the manned tactical air power of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Deliveries of the F-35 for the U.S. military are scheduled to be completed in 2037.

Lockheed Martin and its partners will do the work on this order in Fort Worth, Texas; El Segundo and San Diego, Calif.; Warton, England; Orlando, Fla.; Nashua, N.H.; Cameri, Italy; Baltimore; and Nagoya, Japan, and should be finished by October 2024.

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