WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Friday it had awarded Lockheed Martin Corp a contract valued at $4.7 billion for an eighth batch of F-35 fighter jets that lowered the average price per jet by 3.5 percent from the last contract, and 57 percent from the first batch.
TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Israel Aerospace Industries has officially inaugurated its production line for wings for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.
The production line actually began manufacturing its first pair of wings for the aircraft in September and is scheduled to produce four wings each month, according to an Israeli Air Force announcement on Thursday.
F-35 fighter jet misses first international outing in Britain
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This image, released by the US Navy Visual News Service on October 3, 2011, shows an F-35B Lightning II making the first vertical landing on a flight deck at sea aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) (AFP Photo/Mcsn Natasha R. Chalk)
London (AFP) - The first international appearance of the F-35 fighter in Britain on Friday has been cancelled as the fleet remains grounded in the United States, in an embarrassing setback for the costly programme.
The stealth fighter jet had been due to take part in a military aviation display, the Royal International Air Tattoo, ahead of its formal presentation at the Farnborough International Air Show next week.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Monday temporarily halted flights at a Florida air base of 26 F-35A fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp after a jet caught fire as it was preparing to take off for a training flight, a Pentagon spokesman said.
The pilot aborted the takeoff and was not injured, said Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the Pentagon's F-35 program office. He had no immediate details on the cause of the fire or extent of the damage to the F-35 conventional takeoff model.
The fire occurred in the rear part of the plane where the engine is located, but it was unclear whether the engine was involved. Engine maker Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, said it was aware of the incident and stood ready to assist in the Air Force investigation.
The incident came just days before a group of F-35 B-model jets are due to fly to Britain for the jet's international debut. One U.S. defense official said it was too soon to say whether the fire would delay those plans or affect them in any way.
DellaVedova said it was unclear what caused the fire, but Air Force officials had temporarily suspended flights of the A-model jets at the base until the root cause was found. "Safety is paramount, and all F-35A flight operations have been temporarily suspended at Eglin as they investigate the nature of the incident," he said. Emergency responders were able to put out the fire, which occurred about 0915 local time, he said. Lockheed referred questions to the 33rd Fighter Wing, which is responsible for training F-35 pilots for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and international militaries.
This is the second incident that has affected F-35 flights in recent weeks. The U.S. military ordered mandatory inspections of all 97 F-35 fighter jets earlier this month after a Marine Corps F-35 B-model jet suffered an oil leak in flight.
The incident was resolved quickly, and all but three jets returned to flight status with days. Those three jets are being repaired to deal with a faulty part, the F-35 spokesman said.
It was not immediately clear whether the fire would trigger fleet-wide inspection orders for all three models of the F-35.
Lockheed is building three models of the new warplane for the U.S. military: a conventional takeoff version for the Air Force, a short takeoff and vertical landing version for the Marine Corps, and a carrier-based version for the Navy.
Britain helped fund development of the radar-evading jet, along with seven other countries: Australia, Norway, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Turkey and Canada. Japan, Israel and South Korea have also placed orders for the warplane.
News of the fire also overshadowed a new report from the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer that showed the projected cost of retrofits required for the jet had dropped to $1.65 billion as of February 2014, from $1.75 billion a year earlier.
It said Lockheed was working closely with the F-35 program office to reduce the time required to implement design changes into the production line, which was helping to lower the cost.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese and Ken Wills)
Turkey has decided to place a firm order with US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin for two F-35 stealth fighter jets, a defence source said on Wednesday. NATO member Turkey plans to buy 100 of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets over the next decade for about $16 billion (11 billion euros). The…
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Turkey orders first fighter jets from Lockheed Martin
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Visitors look at a Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet at the Singapore Airshow on February 2, 2010 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey has decided to place a firm order with US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin for two F-35 stealth fighter jets, a defence source said on Wednesday.
"Two orders will be placed," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that they were due to be delivered in 2015.
NATO member Turkey plans to buy 100 of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets over the next decade for about $16 billion (11 billion euros).
The purchase order was decided at a meeting Tuesday of of the Undersecretariat for Defence Industry (SSM) chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The SSM said on its website that Turkey remained a strong supporter of the JSF programme.
"In this framework, as planned and declared previously, Turkey maintains its projection to buy a total of 100 F-35 A aircraft," it added.
Turkey's air force is looking to replace its aging F-4 and older F-16s jets.
The F-35 has been touted as the ultimate stealth attack plane able to evade radar detection.
An F-35B Lightning II aircraft lands aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) during the second at-sea F-35 developmental test event. The F-35B is the Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter and is undergoing testing aboard Wasp. Source: U.S. Navy courtesy of Lockheed Martin by Andy Wolfe.
In April, the United States Department of Defense released a report that estimates the impact of sequestration-level funding if it continues past FY 2015. The good news is FY 2016 doesn't start till October 2015, so there's still time for Congress to act. The bad news is if sequestration-level funding continues, Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) F-35 could face a considerable cut. Here's what you need to know.
The cuts keep coming According to the DoD's report: "At sequestration-level funding, major reductions from the FY 2015-2019 President's Budget request would include: Reducing one squadron of F-35 aircraft (cutting acquisition of 15 aircraft would prevent fielding the squadron)."
In other words, if sequestration-level funding continues, the Pentagon will have to reduce F-35 procurement by 17 from fiscal 2016-2019. Considering that in 2013, Lockheed's F-35 accounted for 16% of the company's total consolidated net sales, and 2014 looks to be continuing that trend, a cut in planned procurement is bad news for Lockheed.
The F-35 isn't alone The F-35 isn't the only program that would see an impact if sequestration-level funding continues past 2015. According to the DoD's report, some other major reductions include:
Eliminating the fleet of Boeing's (NYSE: BA) KC-10 tankers
Cutting operational surface combatant ships by seven in FY 2019
Cutting procurement of eight ships
Eliminating planned purchases of General Atomics' Reaper aircraft in FY 2018 and FY 2019
Divesting NorthropGrumman's (NYSE: NOC) Global Hawk Block 40 fleet
Clearly the above isn't the best news, and it gets worse. The DoD report estimates that if sequestration-level funding continues, reductions to planned defense spending from FY 2012 to FY 2021 will exceed $1 trillion.
More importantly, the affects of sequestration have been mitigated through FY 2015 thanks to a two-year budget agreement that eased cuts. However, if Congress fails to come to another agreement, the impact of sequestration could get exponentially worse. Considering thatLockheed, Northrop, and Boeing all recently reported first-quarter 2014 results, and all three reported a decrease to their defense backlogs, the prospect of further cuts isn't the best news for these defense giants.
F-35 Lightning ll. Source: Lockheed Martin.
What to watch There's no way to know for certain what will happen when it comes to sequestration and Congress. At this point, the hope of a "grand bargain" seems to be outside the realm of possibilities, but that doesn't mean it can't happen -- especially since 2014 is an election year.
Regardless, defense investors would do well to continue monitoring budget talks. In the long run, defense giants like Lockheed will probably survive, and come back to thrive given their necessity to the military. However, that doesn't mean they'll come out unscathed. For example, if Lockheed sees a reduction to F-35 procurement, it could have a direct impact on its bottom line, which could impact its stock price. Consequently, this is something investors should watch.
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