Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (“KONGSBERG”) has signed an agreement with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics worth NOK 1.2 billion to supply parts for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. The agreement with Lockheed Martin covers production lots 18-19 for Rudders, Vertical Leading Edges and Main Landing Gear Closeout panels for the three versions of the F-35, totalling more than 300 aircraft. Deliveries from the new order will begin in 2025 and will enable continued deliveries through 2027 from KONGSBERG’s production facility in Norway. KONGSBERG is currently working on production lots 15-17, totalling more than 450 aircraft, which will be delivered to the customer through 2025.
“KONGSBERG has been a long-standing partner to Lockheed Martin on the F-35 program and our latest agreement is testament to our strong position in this program. It also adds two more years of production from our facility, further strengthening our position for future lots beyond 2027,” says Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.
KONGSBERG has manufactured parts for the F-35 since 2010. The deliveries consists of aircraft parts in composite materials and titanium as well as parts of the fuselage and rudder. KONGSBERG has proved itself as a reliable supplier to Lockheed Martin, always delivering parts with zero defects. Today KONGSBERG manufactures parts for approximately 100 F-35 fighter aircrafts per year. Reaching full range production within two years, the numbers will increase to 150 per year. KONGSBERG has together with the Norwegian Armed Forces decided to build a new depot in Rygge, Norway for the maintenance of airframes on the Norwegian F-35 combat aircraft.
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) is one of three business units of Kongsberg Gruppen (KONGSBERG) of Norway and the supplier of defence and space related systems and products, mainly anti-ship missiles, military communications, and command and weapons control systems for naval vessels and air-defence applications. Today, the company is probably best known abroad for its development/industrialisation and production of the first passive IR homing anti-ship missile of the western world, the Penguin, starting delivery in the early 1970s (when Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace was part of KONGSBERG’s predecessor Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk).
