Alcoa Bags Titanium Contract With Lockheed Martin For F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

(RTTNews) - Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. (AA) said it has received a contract to supply titanium for Lockheed Martin's (LMT) F-35 Lightning II aircraft program, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter or JSF.

Under the contract, Alcoa becomes the titanium supplier for airframe structures for all three variants of the F-35 over nine years, from 2016 to 2024. At current projected build rates, the contract has an estimated value of approximately $1.1 billion.

The company stated that the titanium will be used to manufacture airframe structures for all three F-35 JSF variants: The F-35A Conventional Takeoff and Landing or CTOL aircraft, the F-35B Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing or STOVL aircraft and the F-35C Carrier Variant or CV.

Under a different existing contract, Alcoa will use the metal to forge all of the largest titanium bulkheads—the "backbone" of the aircraft structure—for the CTOL variant at its Cleveland, Ohio operations. Approximately 75 percent of all F-35s produced are CTOLs.

"This contract with Alcoa is a key element in securing our supply chain with a strong U.S. partner for a critical, strategic raw material," said Dan Pleshko, vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics' Enterprise Supply Chain Management.