When the pandemic basically brought arms production to a halt overnight, the vulnerabilities of global supply chains became apparent across industrial sectors. Steps are now being taken to remove the pain points and reduce the dependence on foreign companies.

“What we’re looking at is whether we’re resilient enough,” said Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of Lockheed Aviation Operations, at Le Bourget, France, last week. Said in my interview at the Paris Air Show.

For decades, many companies have become increasingly dependent on a single supplier. Then came the pandemic. Production lines were forced to come to a standstill when suppliers had to close due to sick employees, or when local regulations prevented workers from coming to work. The F-35, built with parts from 48 states and 10 countries, was no exception. In 2020, Lockheed delivered more than 20 fewer jets than planned.

“Due to Covid-19, major assembly plants have been shut down for six or eight weeks,” Ulmer said.

The company is now looking to increase the number of suppliers for critical specialty parts. Ulmer pointed to Lockheed’s recently announced partnership with New York-based semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries.

“We are re-emphasizing the U.S. ability to have sovereign capabilities in microelectronics.” [that are] We are not particularly dependent on Southeast Asia,” he said. “I think it’s very important.”

More suppliers will likely cost more, but will the U.S. government cooperate?

“They do,” said Ulmer, but for the first time in his 34-year experience. “Especially if you look at the epitome of arms consumption and arms manufacturers. Meeting the necessary demand will require greater resilience and robustness, especially in the event of a major conflict,” Ulmer said. , predicts that the government may stockpile critical specialty materials.

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More than 30 lawmakers are calling The United States has asked to approve the acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne by L3Harris Technologies. A bipartisan group of lawmakers representing states served by Aerojet and L3 Harris said in a June 16 letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that the deal is good for national security and taxpayers. bottom.

“We believe L3Harris Technologies’ acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne creates a more efficient, flexible and innovative supplier of solid rocket motors, liquid rocket engines and other propulsion solutions,” the lawmakers wrote. there is “A more powerful Aerojet Rocketdyne will help the United States maintain a competitive advantage over its adversaries.”

I remember last week when executives from RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies, read more about the name change here) and Lockheed Martin, which had previously tried to acquire Aerojet, raised questions about the deal.

While waiting for the government to approve The deal sees defense software startup Anduril buy solid rocket maker Adranos. “With this acquisition, Anduril will become the primary supplier of solid rocket motors to prime contractors for missile, hypersonic and other propulsion systems for some of the Department of Defense’s most important programs,” the company said in a statement. Stated.

Five years ago, Lockheed Martin executive Greg Ulmer was one of the first guests on the Defense One Radio podcast. At the time, he was conducting his F-35 program when we spoke at his 2018 Farnborough Airshow outside London. Ulmer currently serves as executive vice president of Lockheed Airlines operations. In this role, he oversees all aircraft programs and the research and development department of the prestigious Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. (As an aside, Skunk Works turns 80 this year.) Here’s a quick recap of the discussion at Le Bourget.

Lockheed is nearing delivery of its 1,000th F-35 stealth fighter. About 920 F-35s have been built to date, and the company and its suppliers can produce 156 per year. Among other things, the United States has banned Turkey from the F-35 program because of its purchase of Russian-made S400 air defense interceptors. Ulmer said the penalty reduced the company’s annual production capacity of jets by 24. Lockheed is currently in talks with Germany’s Rheinmetall to manufacture the center fuselage, previously manufactured in Turkey. Ulmer said this would allow Lockheed to build up to 165 jets a year if needed. “Based on contract work and the demand I see, between now and the early 2030s he expects to produce 156 units,” he said. “Then, with Rheinmetall’s additional capabilities, you can increase your flexibility up to 165 or so over a period of two, three, four years or so.”

Air Force and Navy are currently testing New F-35 hardware that allows new technology to be put on jets. The company is delaying deliveries of the new F-35 so it can install new technology on the new F-35. “We will undertake the certificate, be certified by the government, and then we will resume deliveries,” Ulmer said.

There are more than 200 F-35s in Europe today, but by the early 2030s there will be more than 550 F-35s in continental Europe, of which only 50 will belong to the U.S. Air Force, Ulmer said. said Mr. Greece and the Czech Republic have also expressed interest in buying F-35s.

On the F-16 front line, Lockheed has completed production of its first two F-16s for Bahrain at its relatively new factory in Greenville, South Carolina. The factory is expected to deliver between six and eight F-16s this year, before increasing to building four per month in 2025.

company is also working with Red 6 to bring the startup’s advanced tactical augmented reality system to the T-50 pilot training aircraft. Lockheed and KAI jointly developed the T-50. “You can see that we are getting more serious about introducing Red 6 embedded training into the T-50 product,” he says. In flashback, Boeing announced last year that it would be working with Red 6 to bring its technology to the T-7 pilot trainer. Lockheed also plans to develop the T-50 to replace the US Navy’s T-45 trainer.

Austria, Sweden, Greece All are interested in buying the C-130, Ulmer said.

Last week there was a large public event Argued in Paris over future engines to power the F-35. now, defense one Aerospace Reporter Audrey Decker has obtained a response from the F-35 Joint Program Office. “The F-35 JPO endorsed our detailed business case analysis, which was conducted in collaboration with industry, which is a defense effort to advance the F-35’s engine core upgrades and power and thermal management system upgrades. It helped inform the ministry’s decision,” JPO spokesman Ras Goemer said in a statement on Friday.

I take action

Former Lockheed Martin Head of Government Relations Christian Marrone Appointed Senior Advisor to Westexec Advisors, a consulting firm.

Named by Draper Amy Hart Previously, he was Vice President of Contracts for Northrop Grumman.