Fort Worth defense contractors appear to be having a good month with more than $1 billion in defense contracts — including some modifications — awarded to date in March.
On March 9, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. was awarded a $700 million modification to a previously awarded contract for components and materials that will be used by Fort Worth workers to assemble F-35 Lightning II fighter jets for the government of Denmark.
The contract is part of Denmark’s order for Lots 20 and 21 of F-35 aircraft under the F-35 Cooperative Program for partners and foreign customers. Nearly 60% of the work will be done at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth with additional work in El Segundo, California, and at other foreign and domestic sites.
About $300 million was obligated from the F-35 program at the time of the award. Another $394 million came from foreign military sales customer funds, according to the contract announcement.
Two other defense contracts were awarded to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics on March 5.
The first is a $132 million modification to a previously awarded agreement to provide continued flight test support of new capabilities of the F-35 aircraft system for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Participants that are not part of the Defense Department, called the Department of War by President Donald Trump, are included in the contract.
Most of the work will be performed in Fort Worth with additional work in Palmdale, California, and Patuxent River, Maryland, among others, according to the contract.
About $4.4 million in funds were obligated when the contract was announced.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics also received an $83.6 million modification to a previous contract for special tooling and test equipment for the tooling of the F-35 canopies.Â
The work will be conducted for the Joint Strike Fighter program, which includes the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps., along with other participants.
The canopy tooling work will be performed in Garden Grove, California, and is expected to be completed in January 2027 as $37 million in U.S. funding will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, according to the contract.
The Air Force and the Navy both contributed about $18.5 million in obligated funding while non-U.S. participants submitted about $8.2 million.
Naval Air Systems Command, based in Patuxent River, Maryland, awarded the contracts.
Elbit contracts
Another Fort Worth company — Elbit America Inc. — was awarded a $120.5 million contract from the U.S. Army to develop the Soldier Borne Mission Command system.
The company’s see-through display and night vision devices will be used to improve soldiers’ abilities to see in the dark during combat operations.
“This creates a next-generation capability that redefines how soldiers operate, connect, and dominate in complex, contested environments, built on Elbit America’s proven legacy of see-through-display and night vision expertise,” company officials said in a March 9 news release.Â
Erik Fox, senior vice president and general manager of warfighter systems at Elbit America, said the new system will enable soldiers to make combat decisions quicker.
“SBMC changes the speed of decision-making and enables confident, decisive action in moments that define the fight.” Fox said in a statement. “Thanks to our close collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton, we gain mission-critical information, instantly and intuitively, allowing soldiers to think and react faster.”
In December, the company was awarded a $49.9 million Army contract for high-resolution, head-up displays used in fighter jet cockpits and cargo transporters. That work is expected to be completed by December 2030, according to the contract.
Elbit is one of the leading suppliers of head-up displays with more than 5,000 systems operations in dozens of aircraft, company officials said.
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.Â
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