BAE Completes Review for F-35 parts

29 Jul 11

BAE said the Production Readiness Review was an important step for South Australia becoming a key supplier in the Joint Strike Fighter program's global supply chain.

The review was at BAE Systems Edinburgh Parks site and was attended by representatives from a number of global Joint Strike Fighter program companies, including Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems UK.

BAE's Land and Integrated Systems Director Kim Scott said the company had delivered more than 370 Vertical Tail parts, comprising 13 aircraft ship sets, from its Edinburgh Parks manufacturing facility in northern Adelaide.

"Achieving this key milestone of PRR means we are a step closer toward full rate production, which would involve further production readiness assessments," Scott said.

"At full rate production we will be delivering 70 aircraft sets per annum, with over 30 parts in each set."

BAE said manufacturing times can range from 1 hour to 50 hours per component.

BAE Systems Australia has a proven track record in successfully delivering parts direct to the JSF Vertical Tail production line in time for production," Scott said. "To date, all ship sets delivered have met the stringent quality standards and customer schedule expectations.

"Continuing to deliver to our current performance level should lead to more JSF manufacturing opportunities in avionics and airframe parts, which will also have flow on benefits to Australia's SME community."

The outcomes of the PRR will be reported back to the U.S. Department of Defense 2012 Defense Acquisition Board Review of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program.

Source UPI Newstrack