Philip Smart | Adelaide
Norway’s Kongsberg Defence Systems will build rudders and vertical tail leading edges for production lots nine and 10 of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, under a A$94 million order from Lockheed Martin.
Kongsberg has previously delivered these components for production lots three to eight, and sees the new order as the first contractual indication that F-35 production will ramp up, according to Kongsberg Defence Systems Executive Vice President Terje Bråthen.
"We are pleased to see the increased work load as an effect of the increased aircraft quantities and we look forward to the continued growth in aircraft quantities going forward,” he said.
The F-35 program does appear to be gathering pace, with Australia and Norway announcing joint work on the JSM stand-off missile for the F-35, cold weather testing nearly complete and the beginning of ski-jump testing for the F-35B version.
At the Australian International Airshow last week Program Executive Officer for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office, US Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, said the Air Force is confident the aircraft will meet its targets going forward.
“Since the re-baselining we are holding to targets and haven’t shifted on budget, dates or capability," Bogdan said.
US Navy Vice Chief of Operations Admiral Michelle Howard last week also restated the Navy’s commitment to having the carrier-based variant declared ready for operational use by 2018.
Australia has so far committed to buying 72 of a possible 100 F-35 aircraft, with the first two now working up at Luke Air Force Base in the United States and the first Australian pilot in training.