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AFA NEWS: Digital engineering key to new F-16 production line
F 16
Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jean Corbeau
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland – Lockheed Martin’s recently revived F-16 production line in Greenville, SC has been fitted with new digital engineering technology that executives say will increase efficiency and reduce costs.
The facility – which produces F-16 Block 70/72 fighter jets – was commissioned three years after Lockheed’s F-16 range ended production in Forth Worth, Texas.
“We are making investments across the entire production chain,” said Greg Ulmer, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. “We don’t just pick up the production [line] … As it was and reimplemented.
Instead, the company is updating it with new technologies such as automation and digital engineering and manufacturing processes, he said on September 21 in a briefing with reporters at the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space and Cyber conference.
“We are very focused on reducing costs… for the F-16 and improving the quality of the product as we go,” he said. “It was part of Lockheed Martin’s vision to truly build a digital factory that runs faster and smarter. “
The Air Force also plans to create a digital twin of the F-16 that will help improve sustainment and modernization efforts, Ulmer said.
“This effort is really helping to lay the groundwork and foundation for a host of potential future efforts relating to the digital engineering of the F-16,” Ulmer said.
Greenville’s production line will play an important role in meeting growing demand for F-16s internationally, he said. There are more than 3,000 F-16s operating in 25 different countries, including around 900 for the US Air Force, he noted.
Five countries have selected the latest generation of F-16 Block 70/72s and there is an order book of 128 aircraft, Ulmer said. Lockheed Martin sees the potential for up to 300 additional F-16s depending on international interest.
Five countries currently have orders with the company, including Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bahrain and Taiwan. A fifth country has requested to remain anonymous, Ulmer said. The company is looking for new opportunities in Europe, the Middle East, South America and the Indo-Pacific regions.
“We continue to see significant demand for the F-16 internationally,” Ulmer said.
Meanwhile, the F-16s are expected to start rolling off the production line at Greenville in the fourth quarter of 2022, but Ulmer said it was too early to say how many.
The line will also facilitate the filing job. Lockheed was awarded a contract for F-16 work in the contiguous United States last year and about 10 planes are currently in the “depot stream,” Ulmer said.
“This is the first such F-16 depot in the continental United States,” he said. As the “original equipment manufacturer for the F-16, we are currently in a position to provide the most comprehensive knowledge of this aircraft and establish … [a] Center of excellence for the F-16.
The company plans to hire “several hundred jobs” in the Greenville area to support the production line, Ulmer said.
The subjects: Air power
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