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F-35 costs have been declining. That’s about to change.
Inside Air Force Plant 4, where Lockheed Martin builds F-35 fighters and tries to recover from the pandemic
By Stephen Losey
Nov 18, 01:22 PM
FORT WORTH, Texas — On a mile-long production line in Fort Worth, Texas, the next wave of the U.S. and allied militaries’ F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fleets takes shape.
Dozens of nascent fighters, coated almost entirely in sea-green primer, work their way north through Air Force Plant 4, a government-owned facility operated by manufacturer Lockheed Martin. They begin their journey here as a pair of wings hanging from blue platforms on the southern end. Along the way, Lockheed employees — the entire site has about 17,000 workers — add the engines, cannons, tails, rudders, lift fans, canopies, landing gear, sensors and other components that make the Lightning II the most advanced fighter jet ever made.
Plant 4 is also where Lockheed Martin has faced significant challenges, from labor and supply chain shortages spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic to the recent discovery that a key magnet in a subcontractor’s part had for years been made with an unauthorized China-sourced alloy.
https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2022/11/18/f-35-costs-have-been-declining-thats-about-to-change/
