Lockheed Martin to support F-35 test flight operations

Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has been awarded a modified contract to support test flight operations for the F-35 aircraft platforms for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as non-U.S. Defense Department customers.

The $22.9 million deal was announced Monday by the Pentagon and modifies a previous award terms of a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract that was slated to procure "53,164 level of effort hours" for system software integration.

"Level of effort" refers to the amount of work that is required in a given timeframe. Additionally, 53,122 level-of effort hours will be used for flight test operations on the F-35 Lighting II's platforms.

Work on the project will occur in Texas, California and Maryland, and is expected to be completed by February 2018.

U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps fiscal year 2018 operations and maintenance funds and non-U.S. Defense Department participants funds will be used to procure the services from Lockheed Martin. While the full contract value of $22.9 million has been obligated to Lockheed, $18.3 million of the funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.