The U.S. Department of Defense announced that Lockheed Martin was awarded a $3,367,476,836 modification to a previously awarded F-35 Lightning II contract. Most of the additional funds (57 percent) will be used to perform work at the Fort Worth facility, the main production facility of the F-35.

Four percent, or just under $135 million, of the funds will go toward work performed in Cobb County at the Marietta facility, which produces the center wing for the F-35.

According to the public information release, this modification is intended to add scope to “provide continued logistics support to include ground maintenance activities, action request solution, depot activities, automatic logistics information system operations and maintenance, reliability and maintainability, supply chain management, pilot training, maintainer training, and training system sustainment in support of delivered F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Air Systems for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, and non-Department of Defense (DOD) program partners.”

In addition to this, Lockheed Martin was awarded another $335,728,938 on an existing contract for work to be performed related to the F-35 at the company’s Fort Worth facility.

This is the second major increase to a Lockheed Martin F-35 contract this month, with a previous $11.76 billion awarded to another contract.

The F-35 has recently come under attack from Trump ally Elon Musk who reportedly called the builders of the aircraft “idiots.” Musk has been appointed by Trump to an as-yet nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency.

Defense News reported that outgoing Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall reacted to Musk’s comments, stating, “He’s not a warfighter.”

F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is the most expensive project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. It has cost over $1.7 trillion for acquisition, operation, and maintenance.

It is a bundle of three programs for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, each with its variant (F-35A, F-35B, and F-35C). 

Lockheed Martin and Cobb County

The Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta has been a major employer in Cobb County since 1951, when the Lockheed Corporation, a predecessor of Lockheed Martin, took over the former site of the WWII Bell Bomber plant.

The C-130 program is the largest program operating at the Marietta facility. The plant currently produces the C-130J Super Hercules (see the company’s Fast Facts on the C-130J or the company’s C-30J brochure for more information).

The Marietta plant also provides ongoing support for the C-5 Galaxy, which celebrated its 50^th year in operation in 2018. The C-5 Galaxy is expected to remain in service until 2045.

The Marietta location also supports the P-3 Orion, and manufactures the center wings for the F-35.