Lockheed Martin Corp., a Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded an $18,670,070 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the procurement of maintenance and sustainment operations support for the Norway Italy Reprogramming Laboratory systems and consumables in support of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the governments of Norway and Italy. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be complete by December 2022. Non-Department of Defense participant funds in the amount of $13,648,950 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Italy has a requirement for 30 F-35Bs and 60 F-35As. The first test, evaluation, and training F-35A was delivered to the air force in December 2015, with the final JSF scheduled to be handed over in 2027. To date, nine F-35As and one F-35B have been delivered from the Cameri FACO. Four of these jets are now based at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, for international pilot training, and five are at Amendola Air Base in Italy. Norway has 7 F-35A operational and used for training of Norwegian pilots in the US, 9 delivered to Norway for testing and integration, with 36 additional planned with a total of 52 planned. Norway and Australia also are funding an adaptation of the Naval Strike Missile (NSM) for the F-35; designated Joint Strike Missile (JSM), two missiles can be carried internally with an additional four externally.
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft. It is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions while also providing electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Lockheed Martin is the prime F-35 contractor, with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. The aircraft has three main variants: the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A (CTOL), the short take-off and vertical-landing F-35B (STOVL), and the carrier-based F-35C (CV/CATOBAR).
