FORT WORTH, Texas--Lockheed Martin [LMT] plans to turn out its 1,000th F-35 fighter by the end of this year on the one-mile, 20-foot-long assembly line here at Air Force Plant 4 from which planes have rolled off since the B-24 Liberator bomber in 1942. The F-35 production process is a complex, interwoven one that depends upon the contributions of at least 1,650 suppliers--about 1,000 small businesses and other contractors, including Northrop Grumman [NOC] for the center fuselage and BAE Systems…
