The U.S. Department of Defense has tapped several countries in Europe and the Pacific to fix an initial series of parts on F-35 Lightning IIs outside the United States, the program office said Nov. 7.
From 2021 to 2025, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia will provide maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) services for a total of 65 components on F-35s overseas. DoD assigned 48 components to the U.K., 14 to the Netherlands and three to Australia. 523a2574ad7b3-f35refuel22
From 2025 and beyond, the Europe and Pacific regions will each have two countries assigned to handle all 65 parts. For Europe, DoD assigned 51 components to the U.K. and 14 to the Netherlands. For the Pacific, DoD assigned 64 components to Australia and one to South Korea.
In the U.K., a partnership of the Defence Electronics & Components Agency (DECA), BAE Systems [BA] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] will perform F-35 repairs in North Wales, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The assignments represent about 8 percent of repairable work on the fighter jet, the program office said. Built by Lockheed Martin [LMT], the F-35 has a total of 774 components that will need repairs in such areas as avionics, life support, egress, canopy system and pumps.
“This is the first of many opportunities we will have to assign F-35 global sustainment solutions for component repair work,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, the F-35 program executive officer. “As international F-35 deliveries increase and global operations expand, support provided by our international F-35 users becomes increasingly more important.”
DoD eventually plans to have regional repair capabilities in Europe and the Pacific for all 774 parts. Assignment of the remaining parts is expected to occur over the next two to three years.
Requests for information for F-35 warehousing and non-air vehicle repairs were released in October and will be assessed in 2017.
In 2014, DoD divided airframe and engine repairs for Europe and the Pacific among six countries: Australia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey.