
The U.S. Air Force on Dec. 9 awarded Illinois-based AAR Corp. a contract worth potentially $365 million over the next decade for the maintenance of 80 European-based F-16 fighters by Lockheed Martin [LMT]. The award displaces the Belgian company, Societe Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aeronautique SA (SABCA), which has been the incumbent F-16 maintainer since 2001. SABCA has a long history with the F-16 dating back to 1977 when SABCA began final assembly of European F-16s in Gosselles, Belgium. The…