JSF Deal: Lot 8

The Defense Department today awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $300 million to buy long-lead parts for Lot 8 of the Joint Strike Fighter program, hours ahead of sequestration's implementation date. The award will fund materials and components needed to build 35 F-35 jets, among them 29 aircraft for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy. The remaining six aircraft funded here will belong to the United Kingdom and Norway.

The DOD contract announcement:

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $333,786,000 fixed-price-incentive (firm-target), advance acquisition contract to provide long lead-time parts, materials and components required for the delivery for the 35 Low Rate Initial Production lot VIII F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft: 19 conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft for the U.S. Air Force; six short takeoff vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps; four Carrier Variant aircraft for the U.S. Navy; four STOVL for the United Kingdom; and two CTOL aircraft for the Government of Norway. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in February 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $333,786,000 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force ($155,190,000, 46 percent); the U. S. Marine Corps ($85,380,000, 26 percent); and the U.S. Navy ($27,470,000, 8 percent); the United Kingdom ($45,037,000, 14 percent); and Norway ($20,709,000, 6 percent). This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to the FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting authority (N00019-13-C-0008).

In a statement released late this afternoon, Lockheed spokeswoman Laura Siebert said:

Lockheed Martin is pleased to be awarded long lead funding for the eighth F-35 Low Rate Initial Production contract, known as LRIP 8, by the Department of Defense. This award provides our supplier base the stability needed to properly execute on our future production commitments. We will continue to drive down costs for these future aircraft as we have done on every previous LRIP contract.