Join Production And Support Phase For F-35

Some good news for Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter program. Three countries have joined the production and support phase of the stealthy F-35 Lightning II.

Earlier this week, Canada became the second foreign country, after the Netherlands, to sign an agreement extending its cooperation in the fighter program beyond the current development and demonstration phase. Canada contributed $150 million to developing the advanced fighter, intended to replace a wide array of existing fighter aircraft.

"This is a very special event, because it is a very special partnership," US Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said Monday. "The United States and Canada share the strongest possible bonds of friendship, family and fundamental values, as well as a common border."

On Tuesday, Britain and Australia also "re-enlisted" with the JSF program. Lockheed says other countries that took part in the first phase -- including Italy, Turkey, Denmark and Norway -- are expected to join the production stage soon.

"The Joint Strike Fighter program represents a revolutionary approach to both aircraft development and international armaments cooperation," said Canadian Deputy Defense Minister Ward Elcock. "It brings together expertise from many different countries and is, as a result, the single largest fighter aircraft program in the world."

The United Kingdom has been involved with the Joint Strike Fighter program since its inception 10 years ago and is in to the program to the tune of $2 billion. The British plan for a total buy of up to 150 short-take-off-and-vertical-landing versions of the aircraft for use on two future aircraft carriers.

The Canadians plan to buy 80 F-35 conventional-take-off-and-landing aircraft to replace its CF-18 aircraft.

The program, led by Lockheed-Martin, will build three variants of the fighter: a conventional model, a carrier model, and a vertical-take-off-and-landing model. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps will use the three aircraft variants. The F-35 will replace the Air Force's F-16 Falcon, the Navy's and Marine Corps' F/A-18 Hornet, and the Marines' AV-8B Harrier.

The first production-spec F-35 is slated to begin test flights before the end of this week.

FMI: www.jsf.mil