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Lockheed Martin wins JSF competition

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, October 30, 2001

WASHINGTON Ñ Lockheed Martin has won what could be a $200 billion project to produce the Joint Strike Fighter for the U.S. military.

Pentagon officials said Lockheed Martin easily beat Boeing for the JSF project. They said Lockheed Martin's demonstrator aircraft and design achieved superiority Boeing in a range of areas.

The U.S. military plans to procure more than 3,000 aircraft for all services of the military. Three versions of the JSF are planned and the conventional takeoff and landing variant, designed for the U.S. Air Force, will be undergo the greatest production.

"The value of the program, depending on the degree of international cooperation and participation, will be Ñ could be in excess of $200 billion," Assistant Defense Secretary Edward Aldridge said.

Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin exceeded Pentagon requirements for the JSF, officials said. They said, however, that Lockheed Martin's demonstrator was cheaper and more effective.

"Lockheed just had strengths in certain areas that outweighed fewer weaknesses, and when we looked at risk, the Lockheed Martin team was the better value," Secretary of the Air Force James Roche said. "It became clear, as we went through this process, that the case built more and more strongly that the Lockheed Martin team was a clear winner from the point of view of best value for the government."

The Pentagon contract awarded to Lockheed Martin is for nearly $19 billion. The contract is for what officials termed the System Development and Demonstration phase, meant to prove out the validity and design and capability of the aircraft prior to entering full production. This will result in the production of 22 aircraft.

Israel, Turkey and Arab allies of the United States are monitoring the JSF program. Many of them have F-16 fleets that they hope to eventually modernize with the JSF.

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