First Fokker components delivered for first F-35 flight-test aircraft

18 November 2004

Fokker Aerospace Group has officially delivered the first wire assembly and the first in-flight opening doors for the first CTOL* F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to U.S. customers Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, respectively.

The components were handed over during a ceremony at the Delft University of Technology, which was attended by Tom Burbage, Executive Vice President and F-35 JSF program General Manager for Lockheed Martin, and Janis Pamiljans, Vice-President and F-35 Program Manager for Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector. 
 
The on-time delivery of this hardware demonstrates the possibilities for Dutch industry to participate in this worldwide program with their innovative capabillities.
 
"With the delivery of these parts, Fokker has reaffirmed to the world that international participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program is imperative to the successful development of the world's most advanced strike fighter," said Pamiljans. "Now that production has begun, we must continue leveraging the expertise of the Dutch aerospace industry as we create an aircraft with unprecedented levels of interoperability for domestic and coalition forces."
 
"Dutch industry has been an important part of our JSF team since well before the current contract was awarded. Our confidence in their capabilities is once again underscored by this important first delivery by our strategic partner Fokker," Burbage said. "JSF is an affordability-based program for the United States and our allies, and we require world-class industrial participation to control costs and provide the highest quality performance to our military air forces. The equipment delivered today demonstrates that Dutch industry is an important element of the global JSF industrial team.
 
"This important milestone shows that we offer world-class Aerospace capabilities" said Kees de Koning, President of Fokker Aerospace Group. "Being a partner in the JSF program is a challenge for continuous innovation and competition, to provide best value solutions"
 
The deliveries form part of the contracts awarded to the Dutch aerospace industry by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) phase of the JSF program, in which the Netherlands is participating. The joint contract value for the more than 20 Dutch companies and institutes which are involved in the project totals more than € 200 million (with a Fokker share of € 125 million), and this total will increase further over the remaining duration of the SDD phase (up to 2013). 
 
During SDD, the 22 JSF test aircraft (14 of which will have full-flight capability) will undergo an extensive series of ground and flight tests for the Pentagon to establish their compliance with contract specifications. The official production order is expected to be issued to Lockheed Martin in 2006. Both SDD contract performance and partner-country order quantities are factors contributing to future teammate production-order decisions. Approximately 4,500 aircraft are expected to be built.
 
Fokker Aerospace Group develops and produces advanced components and systems for the aviation and aerospace industry, and supplies integrated services to aircraft owners and operators. The group achieved a turnover of € 478 million in 2003 with 3,000 employees out of the total Stork turnover of €1.94 billion.
 
*Conventional Take-Off and Landing
 

Press information:
Stork N.V.
Dick Kors
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