F-35 Meets 2014 Production Goal

The US Department of Defense accepted its final F-35 Lightning II aircraft delivery for 2014 today meeting the programme production goal of 36 aircraft.

With the last delivery for this year, the government, Lockheed Martin and industry team has delivered 109 operational aircraft to the US and partner nations since the programme's inception. The 36th delivery, known as CF-19, was the first F-35C carrier variant delivered to the Marine Corps.

"Meeting US and International aircraft delivery goals is a stepping stone," said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, F-35 Program Executive Officer. "It's a global undertaking to build and deliver F-35s. Thousands of men and women produced the 300,000 individual parts from 46 US states and 10 other countries to make these stealth fighters, and they should be proud of their accomplishment."

The 36 F-35 deliveries include:

• 23 - F-35A - US Air Force
• 2 - F-35A - Royal Australian Air Force (first two)
• 4 - F-35B - US Marine Corps
• 7 -  F-35C - US Navy and the US Marine Corps (first Carrier Variant)

The 36 F-35 Lightning II aircraft are assigned to the following installations:

• 19 - Luke Air Force Base, Glendale, AZ
• 14 - Eglin Air Force Base, Valparaiso, FL
• 2 - Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, S.C.
• 1 - Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, AZ

"Delivering the most F-35s in programme history is a clear demonstration of our growing stability and ability to ramp up production," said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed Martin F-35 Program General Manager. "Congratulations to the entire government and industry team for their work to deliver 36 aircraft."

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter which combines advanced low observable stealth technology with fighter speed and agility, fully-fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Three distinct variants of the F-35 will replace the A-10 and F-16 for the US Air Force, the F/A-18 for the US Navy, the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier for the US Marine Corps and a variety of fighters for at least 11 other countries.

[via-dsadvance.co.uk]