Lockheed Martin (www.lockheedmartin.com) recently announced that it has hired more than 1,800 new employees in support of the F-35 programme, meeting a commitment made in January 2017 by CEO Marillyn Hewson.

The company also announced that it plans to create an additional 400 jobs at its Fort Worth (Texas) facility to support increased production on the programme.

Ms Hewson said: “The F-35 is an iconic product that represents the best of US innovation, technology leadership and advanced manufacturing.

“The programme supports 194,000 direct and indirect jobs nation-wide; and as we ramp up production, we are creating even more opportunities for American workers.

The men and women who participate in the F-35 programme take pride in delivering unmatched fifth-generation capabilities to the US military and our allies around the world.”

Lockheed Martin held a hiring event in Fort Worth on 30 July, with the goal of recruiting 400 new employees, including avionics technicians, milling machinists, structural assemblers, aircraft mechanics, field and service mechanics, and electrical assemblers.

About 310 F-35s have been delivered to date; the current programme has scheduled more than 3,000 aircraft.

The F-35 ‘enterprise’ has significantly increased production volumes year-on-year to meet demand. Lockheed Martin met its 2017 delivery target of 66 aircraft, representing a more than 40% increase on 2016.

The company is on track to deliver 91 aircraft in 2018 and is preparing to increase production volumes to hit a rate of about 160 aircraft per year in 2023.

As production volumes increase, Lockheed Martin has been able to significantly reduce costs.

In fact, F-35 unit costs have fallen by more than 60% since the first production lot, and the company is on track to reduce the cost of an F-35A to $80 million by 2020.