Lockheed Martin Australia & New Zealand, Joe North, speaks with APDR Editor, Kym Bergmann

Kym Bergmann: Let’s start with your signature program – the F-35. It hasn’t been in the news lately, so why not bring us up to date?

Joe North: Overall the program continues on a very strong front as you probably see – a lot of interest worldwide with countries buying into the program, which is always good. Of course, the good news from Australia’s side, the 72 aircraft they’re buying are already locked in, so we know what we are getting and when we are getting them. We maintain that schedule very well with seven more delivered by the end of last year.

We have also been tied to directives and goals with our customer to drive costs down at the same time, which we’ve been successful doing on schedule. So overall, I think the program will grow. That’s a good thing. Deliveries are expected year after year and that increases, of course, our work here in the country to get ready for the sustainment phase. We have two very large contracts under Lockheed Martin for the sustainment effort…

Read more in the current issue of APDR (Free to read with registration or via Facebook/Linkedin): https://venturaapdr.partica.online/apdr/apdr-feb-2020/features/lockheed-martin-australia-amp-new-zealand-joe-north-speaks-with-apdr-editor-kym-bergmann

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Kym Bergmann
Kym Bergmann is the editor for Asia Pacific Defence Reporter (APDR) and Defence Review Asia (DRA). He has more than 25 years of experience in journalism and the defence industry. After graduating with honours from the Australian National University, he joined Capital 7 television, holding several positions including foreign news editor and chief political correspondent. During that time he also wrote for Business Review Weekly, undertaking analysis of various defence matters.After two years on the staff of a federal minister, he moved to the defence industry and held senior positions in several companies, including Blohm+Voss, Thales, Celsius and Saab. In 1997 he was one of two Australians selected for the Thomson CSF 'Preparation for Senior Management' MBA course. He has also worked as a consultant for a number of companies including Raytheon, Tenix and others. He has served on the boards of Thomson Sintra Pacific and Saab Pacific.

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