Posted on 06/25/2002 5:59:33 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
Bethesda, Maryland -- Lockheed Martin Corp. said Italy plans to invest $1.02 billion in the development of the company's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the next decade, making it the second-largest foreign backer of the fighter jet.The U.K. has agreed to invest $2 billion in the jet, the most expensive warplane program in history. Denmark has committed $125 million and Canada will invest $150 million. Turkey is expected to join the program next month, Lockheed said in a statement, joining Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.
Lockheed, the largest defense contractor, beat Boeing Co. for the 10-year, $18.9 billion full-scale development contract, which includes building the first 22 test planes. Some 2,866 planes are scheduled for delivery starting in 2008 for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and the British Royal Navy. Foreign nations may buy another 3,000, officials have said.
``The support around the world, and interestingly from Europe, has just been significant,'' Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Bloomberg news today in an interview.
Shares of Lockheed fell 86 cents to $69.50. They have gained 49 percent this year.
Italy's choice of the F-35 is a blow to the Eurofighter, a competing jet fighter scheduled to start deliveries several years ahead of the American plane, analysts said. Italy expects to buy about 100 F-35s to go with the 121 Eurofighters it has ordered, according to Ansa, an Italian news agency.
Italian Influence
Finmeccanica, Italy's state-owned aerospace company, said three of its units will help build the F-35. Fiat SpA, Italy's largest manufacturer, also said it will be involved.
Major subcontractors include Northrop Grumman Corp., TRW Inc., BAE Systems Plc, Raytheon Co. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit builds the engines.
Lockheed, based in Bethesda, Maryland, will get about 70 percent of the contract's funds, with most of the balance going to the subcontractors. The Joint Strike Fighter is expected to cost $226.4 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.
The Eurofighter is built by Finmeccanica's Alenia Aeronautica in Italy; BAE Systems and European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Co.
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