PARIS, June 19 (UPI) -- Canada's Magellan Aerospace has signed an MOU to produce horizontal tails for a variant of the F-35 Lightning II.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding with BAE Systems, more than 1,000 horizontal tails will be made over a 20-year period for the F-35 conventional takeoff and landing variant.
The potential value of the tail assemblies, which require composite materials, has a value of about $1.17 billion over the life of the program.
"At Magellan, we are proud to be an integral part of the F-35 supply chain," said Jim Butyniec, president and chief executive officer of Magellan Aerospace.
"We've produced parts that are flying on all three variants, and for planes that will fly in four of the partnering nation's air forces. We look forward to seeing the first Magellan-built horizontal tail assembly fly on a production F-35 in early 2014."
Magellan is a part of the global F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter team, which involves eight partner nations.
The announcement was made at the Paris Air Show.
