Updated 12:47 08 Nov 2016

Following on from its selection as an F-35 Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul and Upgrade (MRO&U) heavy depot repair location for the Pacific in December 2014, Australia has now been assigned initial component repair responsibilities for the Joint Strike Fighter.

On Monday the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) announced the countries that would be assigned initial F-35 component repair capability for the first 65 of 774 repairables on the aircraft.

The assignments were based on data compiled and analysed by the JPO that was collected from the Partners Nations, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and their industries. These initial regional MRO&U assignments will support near-term component repair requirements in support of F-35 overseas operations and maintenance and will be reviewed and updated as program needs dictate but no later than the next five years, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said. 

"For the Pacific Region, the Department has assigned 64 of the first 65 components to Australia and 1 component assigned to Korea with this repair capability to be activated by 2025."

The Lockheed Martin statement continued: 

"As part of the F-35 global sustainment strategy, participating nations were provided with requirements outlining global repair needs for the F-35 component workload. Each country was afforded the opportunity to work with their industrial base to provide the F-35 enterprise work over and above their own F-35 needs. Regional considerations such as forward basing, aircraft phasing, and transportation also contributed to initial assignment decisions.

"There are a total of 774 components (broken into 18 categories such as avionics, life support, egress, canopy system, pumps etc...) that will be repaired on the F-35. This current assignment is for 65 of these 774 parts with assignment of the remaining parts to occur over the next two to three years. Eventually, the Program intends to have regional repair capability in Europe and the Pacific for all 774 components.

"The current assignments are time-phased such that the first repair capabilities will be stood up by 2021 and will serve all F-35s globally until 2025. This is because the demand for repairs from 2021 to 2025 can be satisfied with a single repair source globally. Eventually, the demand for repairs will increase to a point where a single global repair capability will not be enough and as a result the program will stand up regional repair capabilities in Europe and the Pacific to handle the increased demand. Thus, there are two component repair assignments being made today: one for global repairs form 2021 to 2025 and a second for regional repairs from 2025 and beyond."

For the 2021 to 2025 Global Repair Assignments, the US Department of Defense (DoD) has assigned 48 of the first 65 components to the UK and 14 of the first 65 components to the Netherlands, and 3 components to Australia for global repairs from 2021 to 2025. From 2021 to 2025 these repair capabilities in the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands will serve all F-35s around the world.

Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne said that while contracts needed to be finalised, the "initial work would be worth between $80 and $100 million in today's dollars and will create and sustain hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs".

For Regional Repair Assignments from 2025 and beyond, in Europe 51 of the first 65 components have been assigned to the UK, and 14 of the first 65 components to the Netherlands, with this repair capability to be activated in 2025. For the Pacific Region, the DoD has assigned 64 of the first 65 components to Australia and 1 component assigned to Korea with this repair capability to be activated by 2025.

Lockheed Martin said the initial repair technology category assignments do not preclude the opportunity for other F-35 Partners and FMS customers, including those assigned initial airframe and engine capabilities, to participate and be assigned additional future sustainment workload, to include other components, Support Equipment, Full Mission Simulators, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and Maintenance Training devices as the fleet grows and the F-35 global presence expands.

"This is the first of many opportunities we will have to assign F-35 global sustainment solutions for component repair work," F-35 Program Executive Officer, LTGEN Chris Bogdan said. "As international F-35 deliveries increase and global operations expand, support provided by our international F-35 users becomes increasingly more important. We are grateful for the opportunity to work alongside these nations on a daily basis; this close teamwork enables the US Defense Department to make well-informed, best-value decisions to shape the F-35 global sustainment posture for decades to come."

The assignment of initial F-35 component repair capability represents about 8 per cent of total amount of repairable work. Requests for Information (RFI) for F-35 Warehousing and Non Air Vehicle repairs were released to the F-35 Enterprise in October 2016 and will be assessed during 2017.

In 2014 the Department of Defense has assigned F-35 MRO&U capability for airframes and engines for the European and Pacific Regions.  These assignments support near-term engine and airframe F-35 overseas operations and maintenance and will be reviewed and updated in approximately five years.

In the Asia Pacific Region, the DoDassigned, F-35 airframe MRO&U capability to Japan and their industry partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Northern Pacific and Australia and their industry partner, BAE Systems for the Southern Pacific, with both capabilities required no later than early 2018.

For Heavy F-35 Engine Maintenance, the initial capability will be provided by Australia and their industry partner TAE, with Japan and their industry partner, IHI Corporation, providing additional capability approximately 3-5 years later.