New contract powers Japan towards F-35 assembly

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $30 million contract to acquire long-lead production items needed to enable Japan to perform the local assembly of its first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
In December 2011 Tokyo picked the conventional take-off and landing F-35A for a 42-aircraft requirement. The first four will be delivered from Lockheed’s Fort Worth site in Texas, with the remainder to be completed using a final assembly and check-out line being established with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya.
Japan’s F-35 acquisition was formally kicked off in March 2013, when the US Department of Defense awarded Lockheed $40.2 million to acquire long-lead items for its initial four aircraft, via a so-called C-1 contract. These will be delivered from the second quarter of 2016, as part of the US programme’s eighth lot of low-rate initial production.
flightglobal