The Defense Department on Tuesday awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth more than $1 billion for maintenance for the F-35 program. The cost-plus-incentive-fee contract includes logistics support and sustainment for Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and foreign military sales customers. The non-competitive contract covers ground maintenance, action request solution, depot activation, maintenance for the Automatic Logistics Information System, and related activities. Work will be complete in the US and the UK, according to the Pentagon announcement. Nearly half of the amount, about $507 million, will go to USAF F-35A work. The contract comes weeks after the Pentagon awarded an $8.2 billion Lot 10 production contract for 90 of the jets—the first time the USAF F-35A variant dropped under $100 a copy.
The Air Force is targeting August 2027 for its new T-7A Red Hawk trainer jet to reach its initial operational capability. To get there, the head of Air and Education Training has three milestones he needs to see the program hit.
