APDR February 2020: Lockheed Martin Australia & New Zealand, Joe North, speaks with APDR Editor, Kym Bergmann

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