Lockheed's F-35 program is set to soar

Published: May 17, 2006
Source: www.dallasnews.com



WASHINGTON -- Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Fort Worth division and 3,600 of its 14,900 employees are banking on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is expected to add 1,000 jobs there by 2013.

But first the program has to get through this year.

As Britain's defense procurement chief told the Senate Armed Services Committee recently, "2006 is a crunch year" for the F-35 – the biggest defense contract in history.

The program's unprecedented task is to build three versions of the same single-engine stealth fighter plane for three U.S. armed services and eight allies.

The first F-35 to come off the assembly line is to make its maiden flight by the end of October, nearly five years after Lockheed won the contract.continue..