ILA 2008: Lockheed sets out global credentials

Lockheed Martin is at ILA and reinforcing its support for business in Europe.

Although Lockheed Martin is very much an American company, with the US DoD accounting for 59% of the company’s revenue, and with civil, and US government business accounting for another 26%. -the remaining 15% is from international business and that is worth a staggering $6 Bn with much of it attributed to Europe.

Speaking at the show, Scott Harris, President, Continental Europe, highlighted that Lockheed has been supporting NATO “for 60 years, as long as there has been a NATO” and has eight corporate offices in Europe, overseeing ongoing programmes in 20 countries.

The F-16 (built in several European nations, and still in service with nine NATO air forces) remains an active programme. 4,398 aircraft gave been delivered to 25 nations, and there is a backlog of 98 more, which will keep the line busy until 2012. Proposals have been made to India and Romania, and an order from Morocco is described as ‘pending’.

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter will succeed the F-16 in USAF service, and has already been selected by a number of European nations, with the UK heading the list as the sole Level 1 partner, and with Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey among the Level 2 and Level 3 participants alongside Australia and Canada.

Lockheed describe the F-35 as the ‘cornerstone of future global security co-operation’, as it will replace many types of legacy aircraft now in service with some of the USA’s key allies. The flight test programme is making progress, and the sole flying prototype will soon be joined by the 17 SDD (Systems Design and Development) aircraft that are now in manufacture.

Finally, Harris highlighted the C-130J Hercules, four of which were ordered by Norway last year, and the P-3 Orion, where Norway is considering a re-winging programme for its long-serving aircraft.

These ongoing European programmes also include a number of non-aircraft projects. There are several ongoing missile system programmes, including the Patriot PAC-3 (a major upgrade to the Patriot surface to air missile), MEADS (Medium Extended Air Defense System – a challenging three-way German/Italian/US programme to produce a multiple launcher for PAC-3, which has just passed its critical design review) and MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System).

After its acquisition of PAE, Lockheed is continuing its transition away from simply supplying hardware and equipment to the US Department of Defense, to become a more globally-orientated provider of security solutions and services. PAE’s business is primarily one of supporting peacekeeping, with core competencies in mission readiness, peacekeeping, global infrastructure support and disaster relief activities

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Source: Flight Daily News