Lockheed Martin recently announced that it had met its goal of hiring more than 1,800 new workers in support of their F-35 fighter jet program. That benchmark was first set by company President and CEO Marillyn Hewson in January 2017. The company also announced plans for creating an additional 400 jobs at its Fort Worth, Texas, facility to support increased production.
The fifth-generation F-35 jet program reportedly impacts more than 1,500 suppliers and 190,000 jobs directly and indirectly throughout the U.S. Lockheed feels that the aircraft’s combination of stealth technology, supersonic speed, advanced sensors, enhanced weaponry, and range make it the most advanced fighter aircraft ever built. Recent generations of the plane have also provided enhanced data collection and analysis capabilities.
The 400 new jobs will encompass avionics technicians, milling machinists, coating application specialists, structural assemblers, and electrical assemblers. To date, 310 of the 3,000 requested F-35s have been delivered, with production volume increases looking to improve that number in meeting demand. The company achieved its 2017 delivery target of 66 aircraft. In 2018, the company is forecasting the delivery of 91 planes, with annual increases resulting in the delivery of 160 aircraft per year in 2023.
Helping drive the job creation initiatives has been Lockheed Martin’s ability to cut production costs by more than 60 percent since initial manufacturing began. The aerospace icon is on track to reduce the cost of an F-35A to $80 million by 2020, which is in the neighborhood of the costs for the fourth-generation model that carried less advanced technology.
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