The Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems remains highly classified. But some details are beginning to emerge.
Gregory M. Ulmer
Negotiations over the next three-year lot of F-35s have gone on six months longer than expected because the government and Lockheed Martin are having a hard time agreeing on common numbers for inflation and because of COVID-related supply chain costs, company officials said. However, with foreign orders, ...
Although the U.S. has offered to "backfill" any old Russian jets provided to Ukraine by NATO allies and other partners, it won't be a swift process to provide replacement aircraft. The quickest solution would be providing Active-duty or Air National Guard airplanes, but the allies ...
A deal on the next three-lot buy of F-35 fighters is dragging out because Lockheed Martin and the Joint Program Office are struggling to agree on a new cost baseline, affected by inflation, the pandemic and a reduced buy from the military services, company officials ...
Chronically high operating costs might be tamed with a new deal. A new sustainment contract between the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) and Lockheed Martin, inked in September, will give the company a chance to bring down operating costs over the next three years.
The F-16, in service since the 1970s, could be flying with the Air Force into the late 2030s and with foreign air services into the 2070s, based on recently revealed USAF plans and Lockheed Martin's backorder of jets.
Despite solid combat performance, the F-35’s high maintenance costs and ongoing parts supply problems continue to be a drag on the fifth-generation fighter aircraft, giving critics ammunition as Congress readies to receive the Biden administration’s first budget. Lockheed Martin is delivering F-35s at a rate ...
House Armed Services leaders say they'll move to block adding more F-35s than requested in the fiscal 2022 budget, in hopes of letting the overtaxed sustainment system for the fighter “catch up” to the fleet already in place. Without action on sustainment costs, the Air ...
Sustainment of the F-35 is rapidly becoming the most profitable part of the program, as growing numbers of jets, bases and depots drive a greater demand for parts and services, top Lockheed Martin officials said in an April 20 corporate earnings call. The comments come ...
After years of Lot-over-Lot price reductions on the F-35, it will be hard to drive them much lower in the next negotiation, Greg Ulmer, Lockheed Martin executive vice president for aeronautics, told defense writers on Feb. 19. Ulmer said the next three lots will include ...
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics division leader Michele A. Evans died Jan. 1, the company announced Jan. 2. Evans went on medical leave Nov. 17 due to an unnamed illness, which the company said was unrelated to COVID-19. Gregory M. Ulmer, Lockheed F-35 VP and program manager, ...
House lawmakers hammered Lockheed Martin for persistent problems in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter enterprise during a July 22 hearing, as the defense giant declined to promise it would fully reimburse the Pentagon for defective equipment files. At issue are electronic equipment logs, which act ...
