Pentagon, Lockheed weigh multi-year F-35 production, sustainment deal

Two F-35A Lightning II aircraft fly over the Alaska Range en route to their new home at the 354th Fighter Wing, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, April 21, 2020. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Adam Keele)

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin are in discussions over a mega-deal for the company’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that could span up to a decade and include both production and maintenance for the stealth jet, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Officials have weighed an F-35 multi-year procurement contract for years, and the latest push comes as the Trump administration seeks to expand the use of long-term agreements to buy key weapons like munitions . A successful deal covering both production and sustainment of the tri-variant fighter could be worth tens of billions of dollars.

“There’s been talk about a 10-year, multi-year buy that would include the production as well as sustainment,” Matt Milas, president of Honeywell Aerospace’s defense division, told Breaking Defense in a September interview. Honeywell is a key supplier for the F-35 program.

A source familiar with the negotiations, who requested anonymity since they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed ongoing talks around a multi-year production and sustainment deal. But they expressed skepticism of its efficacy.

A multi-year procurement “makes sense where the department has seen success with munitions contracts. It makes less sense for aircraft lot buys” — particularly because some aspects of F-35 modernization are still in development, the person said. They added that “the complexities of sustainment present multiple unique challenges.”

Milas said the potential agreement would potentially include “bulk buys” of spare parts, with the increased flow of components beginning around the jet’s 21st production lot, expected in roughly three years. Increasing the supply of spare parts is viewed as a key way to help raise the fighter’s dismal readiness rates .

Proponents of multi-year agreements argue that they give industry more predictability, allowing companies to make long-term investments and leverage economies of scale to reduce costs. Milas said the “big benefit” of an F-35 multi-year agreement would largely be on the sustainment side, since the jet’s production rate is expected to remain at 156 annually.

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“It’s more about the sustainment and how do you get more spares and get that bulk buy up front so that you’re not going year-to-year or small lots,” he said.

It’s unclear if the production and sustainment agreements would be linked or structured as separate arrangements, or whether they would stretch the same length of time.

In a statement to Breaking Defense, a Lockheed spokesperson said the company “continues to advocate for a multi-year contracting approach which would provide additional stability for the F-35 industrial base. As demonstrated with other successful programs, this would enable predictable production rates, cost efficiency, and continuous modernization essential to maintaining air superiority and warfighter readiness.”

The company referred all further inquiries to the US government. Spokespeople for the F-35 Joint Program Office and Pentagon declined to comment on negotiations.

A New Version Of A PBL?

Lockheed has previously pushed for a larger sustainment deal in the form of a performance-based logistics (PBL) contract spanning five years . Such agreements essentially pay contractors based on outcomes like equipment availability or readiness rates , and at one point company officials were confident a PBL deal would be reached for the F-35 by the end of 2023.

But lawmakers have required the Pentagon to certify that any PBL agreement would either reduce maintenance costs or increase readiness, a hurdle officials were unable to clear.

The world’s largest defense contractor is once again backing a long-term sustainment contract, according to a company official — but it may not formally be a PBL.

“A multi-year performance-based contract is still in discussion. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a PBL,” Dina Halvorsen, vice president of F-35 global sustainment at Lockheed, said in a Sept. 14 briefing with reporters. “We are looking at advocating for a multi-year agreement for sustainment on the F-35 program.”

But the source familiar with the negotiations characterized the proposal as “PBL by another name.” The person expressed doubt that Lockheed “can successfully propose something that demonstrates long-term cost savings” and noted that congressional approval for a multi-year deal has still not been granted.

The fiscal 2027 defense authorization bill helmed by the Senate Armed Services Committee includes language that would permit the Pentagon to enter into multi-year procurement contracts for the F-35. The House version of the bill includes a similar provision, with some additional guardrails.

For one, it would not authorize multi-year F-35 procurement until the defense secretary certifies that the contract also includes “the full complement of initial spare parts and alternate mission equipment for each aircraft to be procured under the contract.” The Pentagon must al so demonstrate that the multi-year contract achieves cost s avings of at least 5 percent.

Neither version of the bill explicitly mentions or authorizes a multi-year sustainment agreement, potentially leaving a key piece of the broader proposal unresolved. Both the House and Senate will need to hammer out agreed upon language before Congress passes the finalized bill.

The F-35 program is projected to last until the 2080s, and sustainment accounts for a vast portion of its nearly $2 trillion lifecycle cost estimate . Improvi ng the jet’s mission capable rates i s a leading focus for the program, as previous government watchdog reports have found that readiness hampered by a lack of depot capacity, shortages of spare parts and insufficient access for military maintainers to the jet’s technical data.

More than 1,000 F-35s have been delivered to date. But over the last two years, many newly delivered jets have been held for training as officials struggle to clear a new upgrade for combat.

Aaron Mehta contributed to this report.

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2020年4月21日，两架F-35A“闪电II”战斗机飞越阿拉斯加靶场，前往位于阿拉斯加艾尔森空军基地的第354战斗机联队的新家。（美国空中国民警卫队技术军士亚当·基尔摄）

华盛顿——据知情人士透露，五角大楼和洛克希德·马丁公司正在就该公司F-35联合攻击战斗机的巨额交易进行磋商，该交易可能持续长达十年，包括这款隐形战机的生产和维护。

多年来，官员们一直在权衡F-35战斗机的多年采购合同，而此次最新进展正值特朗普政府寻求扩大长期协议的使用范围，以采购弹药等关键武器之际。一份涵盖三型战斗机生产和维护的成功协议，价值可能高达数百亿美元。

霍尼韦尔航空航天公司防务部门总裁马特·米拉斯在9月份接受《防务新闻》采访时表示：“有传言说，双方正在讨论一项为期10年、涵盖生产和维护的多年期采购协议。”霍尼韦尔是F-35项目的关键供应商。

一位熟悉谈判情况的消息人士证实，双方正在就一项多年期生产和维护协议进行谈判。该消息人士要求匿名，因为他未获授权公开谈论此事。但他对协议的有效性表示怀疑。

该人士表示，多年采购“对于国防部在弹药合同方面取得成功的项目来说是合理的。但对于飞机批量采购来说则不太合适”——尤其因为F-35现代化改造的某些方面仍在研发中。他们补充说，“维护保障的复杂性带来了诸多独特的挑战。”

米拉斯表示，潜在的协议可能包括“批量采购”备件，零部件供应量的增加预计将从该型战机的第21批生产批次开始，大约在三年后。增加备件供应被视为提高该型战机低迷战备率的关键途径。

支持多年期协议的人士认为，此类协议能为行业带来更高的可预测性，使企业能够进行长期投资并利用规模经济降低成本。米拉斯表示，F-35多年期协议的“最大好处”主要体现在后勤保障方面，因为该战机的年产量预计将保持在156架。

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他说：“关键在于维护保养，以及如何获得更多备件，并提前进行批量采购，这样就不用每年都小批量采购了。”

目前尚不清楚生产和维护协议是否会关联，还是会作为单独的安排，也不清楚它们的期限是否会相同。

洛克希德·马丁公司发言人在致《防务新闻》的一份声明中表示，该公司“将继续倡导多年期合同模式，这将为F-35的工业基础提供更大的稳定性。正如其他成功项目所证明的那样，这将实现可预测的生产速度、成本效益和持续现代化，而这对于维持空中优势和作战人员战备至关重要。”

该公司将所有后续问询转给了美国政府。F-35联合项目办公室和五角大楼的发言人均拒绝就谈判发表评论。

PBL的新版本？

洛克希德公司此前曾力推一项规模更大的保障协议，即一份为期五年的基于绩效的后勤保障（PBL）合同。这类协议本质上是根据设备可用性或战备率等结果向承包商支付费用，公司高管一度信心满满，认为到2023年底就能就F-35战机达成PBL协议。

但立法者要求五角大楼证明任何 PBL 协议要么降低维护成本，要么提高战备水平，而官员们未能克服这一障碍。

据该公司一位官员透露，全球最大的国防承包商再次支持一项长期保障合同——但这可能并非正式的PBL（生产后保障合同）。

洛克希德·马丁公司F-35全球保障副总裁迪娜·哈尔沃森在9月14日的记者会上表示：“我们仍在讨论一份多年期的绩效合同。我并不一定称其为绩效后勤保障合同（PBL）。我们正在努力争取为F-35项目达成一份多年期保障协议。”

但一位熟悉谈判的消息人士将该提案描述为“换了个名字的PBL”。该人士对洛克希德公司“能否成功提出一项能够证明长期成本节约的方案”表示怀疑，并指出国会尚未批准这项多年期协议。

由参议院军事委员会主导的2027财年国防授权法案包含一项条款，允许五角大楼签订F-35战斗机的多年期采购合同。众议院版本的法案也包含类似条款，但增加了一些额外的限制条件。

首先，在国防部长确认合同中包含“每架待采购飞机的全部初始备件和备用任务设备”之前，不会批准多年期F-35采购合同。五角大楼还必须证明，这份多年期合同至少能节省5%的成本。

这两个版本的法案均未明确提及或授权签订多年期维持协议，这可能导致该项更广泛提案的关键部分悬而未决。众议院和参议院都需要就最终法案的措辞达成一致，国会才能通过最终版本。

F-35项目预计将持续到2080年代，其近2万亿美元的生命周期成本估算中，维护保养费用占了很大一部分。提高战机的任务执行率是该项目的首要任务，因为此前政府监督机构的报告指出，缺乏维修能力、备件短缺以及军方维护人员难以获取战机的技术数据等因素阻碍了战机的战备状态。

迄今为止，已交付超过1000架F-35战机。但在过去两年里，许多新交付的战机因训练需要而被扣留，因为相关部门正努力审批一项新的作战升级方案。

Aaron Mehta 对本报道亦有贡献。

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