US budget pressures may be dampening short-term demand for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but from one supplier’s perspective, sales to key allies such as Japan and South Korea are turning the aircraft into a “dominant platform” for its programme’s supply base.
In a pre-Farnborough air show briefing in London, GKN Aerospace and Land Systems chief executive Marcus Bryson was sanguine about the spending battles that follow the F-35. While worldwide defence spending remains subject to budget cutbacks, he says, the news is “not all bad” in the defence business: “It all depends on which platforms you’re on.”
At present, the F-35 is one of GKN’s principal military platforms, with company content of $2.5 million per shipset. That total is exceeded only by its contribution to Sikorsky’s CH-53K heavylift helicopter for the US Marine Corps ($2.8 million) and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet ($3.1 million). But while Bryson and Kevin Cummings, who recently replaced him as GKN Aerospace chief executive when he was given extra responsibility for the land systems business, expect growth in F-35 output, the CH-53K is currently stymied in US Congressional budget talks – and the F/A-18 appears to be in decline.
GKN’s contracts for all three F-35 variants cover the design and supply of its all-composite engine front fan case, embedded electro-thermal ice protection system for its Pratt & Whitney F135 engine and the canopy transparency, along with manufacture of other composite assemblies and machined metal structures.
Estimating the lifetime value of F-35 work is daunting, given uncertainty over the number of aircraft to be produced. On 25 March, the US government awarded Lockheed Martin a $698 million contract to buy long-lead materials for 57 F-35s. The 100th aircraft was produced in December 2013, and the company says that, through the low-rate initial production lot nine funding and order cycle, 360 aircraft will have been delivered or produced, including the 57 approved in March.
The F-35 programme has been boosted recently by South Korea, which opted to fill its hard-fought F-X III requirement with 40 F-35s, chosen over the Boeing F-15 Silent Eagle and Eurofighter Typhoon. Japan has also chosen the F-35 – up to 48 aircraft – over the F/A-18 and Eurofighter, while Australia earlier this year confirmed plans to order its next 58 aircraft, and may eventually buy up to 100. Turkey has also entered the acquisition phase of its plan to field up to 100 F-35s from 2018.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
