TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Lightweight metals manufacturer Alcoa has won a contract to supply titanium for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II aircraft programme, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Alcoa explained on Wednesday that under the contract, it would supply titanium 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 had a value of about $1.1-billion.
Alcoa would supply titanium plate and billet from several operations gained through the $1.5-billion all-scrip acquisition of global titanium leader RTI International Metals earlier this year.
“Through our expansion in titanium, Alcoa is sharpening its leadership edge on state-of-the-art aircraft, including the most advanced fighter jet in the world – the F-35. We are expanding Alcoa’s range of multimaterial offerings for this programme while helping Lockheed Martin meet aggressive weight, range and fuel efficiency targets,” Alcoa chairperson and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld advised.
Alcoa already supplied several critical, multimaterial components for the F-35.
The F-35 Lightning II was an advanced fighter aircraft combining stealth, speed and agility, designed for various missions. Lockheed Martin’s full-rate production goal was 13 aircraft a month by the mid-2020s, up from an average of three aircraft a month in 2014.
Alcoa had been growing its multimaterial aerospace business to capture growth in the global aerospace market in support of its broader transformation. Besides its acquisition of RTI International Metals, the company had also recently bought aerospace components manufacturer Tital and global jet engine parts leader Firth Rixson.
Alcoa had also grown organically by opening the world’s largest aluminium-lithium facility in Lafayette, Indiana, and launching expansions to increase jet engine parts production in La Porte, Indiana, and Hampton, Virginia. It had also begun the installation of advanced aerospace plate manufacturing capabilities in Davenport, Iowa, announced plans to double its coatings capabilities for jet engine components in Whitehall, Michigan, and announced an investment in technology that strengthened the metallic structures of traditional and additive manufactured parts, also in Whitehall.