WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense resumed accepting F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) last week after reaching an agreement on covering the costs to fix a production error, the Pentagon told Reuters on Monday.

FILE PHOTO - Lockheed Martin's logo is seen during Japan Aerospace 2016 air show in Tokyo, Japan on October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The cost of the fix was $119 million, people familiar with the situation had previously told Reuters.

The Pentagon had stopped accepting the jets on March 29, the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program office told Reuters in a statement. The dispute was over responsibility for paying to fix corrosion related to an error discovered in the second half of 2017.

The military, U.S. allies that own F-35s and Lockheed Martin are making the necessary repairs to all aircraft, the Pentagon’s office in charge of the fighter program said in the statement.

When the Pentagon stopped taking delivery of F-35s, foreign customers also were affected. At least two foreign governments, Australia and Norway, had their jets caught up in the acceptance pause.

The majority of aircraft will be repaired within two years, the statement said.

Lockheed shares added to gains after the news and closed up 2 percent at $317.71.

Last year, the Pentagon stopped accepting F-35s for 30 daysafter discovering corrosion where panels were fastened to theairframe, an issue that affected more than 200 of the stealthyjets.

During routine maintenance at Hill Air Force Base in Utah last year, the Air Force detected “corrosion exceeding technical limits” where the carbon fiber exterior panel is fastened to the aluminum airframe.

Once a fix had been devised, the deliveries resumed andLockheed hit its target aircraft delivery numbers for 2017.

A lack of protective coating at the fastening point thatwould have prevented corrosion was identified as the primaryproblem, the Pentagon said at the time.

The fastening issue on the F-35 fleet did not affect flights, nor was it a safety concern, the Pentagon said last year.

On Monday, Lockheed said an agreement had been reached with the Pentagon, adding that it expected to hit its F-35 delivery target of 91 aircraft for 2018.

The pause was the latest production issue that has arisen in the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons program. In 2016, a fix for insulation problems in the fuel tanks and lines of the jets caused a slowdown in deliveries. </s> The U.S. Department of Defense has resumed accepting F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin Corp after reaching an agreement on who would cover the costs to fix a production error, a Pentagon official said on Monday. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The cost of the fix was US$119 million, people familiar with the situation had previously told Reuters.

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Department of Defense resumed accepting F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin Corp last week after reaching an agreement on who would cover the costs to fix a production error, the Pentagon told Reuters on Monday.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The cost of the fix was US$119 million, people familiar with the situation had previously told Reuters.

The Pentagon had stopped accepting the jets on March 29, the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program office told Reuters in a statement. The dispute was over who was responsible for paying to fix corrosion related to an error discovered in the second half of 2017.

The military, U.S. allies that own F-35s and Lockheed Martin are making the necessary repairs to all aircraft, the Pentagon's office in charge of the fighter program said in the statement.

The majority of aircraft will be repaired within two years, the statement said.

Shares of Lockheed added to gains after the news and were up 1.4 percent at US$315.90 in late afternoon.

Last year, the Pentagon stopped accepting F-35s for 30 daysafter discovering corrosion where panels were fastened to theairframe, an issue that affected more than 200 of the stealthyjets. Once a fix had been devised, the deliveries resumed, andLockheed hit its target aircraft delivery numbers for 2017.

A lack of protective coating at the fastening point thatwould have prevented corrosion was identified as the primaryproblem, the Pentagon said at the time.

On Monday, Lockheed said an agreement had been reached with the Pentagon, adding that it expected to hit its F-35 delivery target of 91 aircraft for 2018. </s> WASHINGTON: The US Department of Defense has resumed accepting F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin Corp after reaching an agreement on who would cover the costs to fix a production error, a Pentagon official said on Monday.The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The cost of the fix was $119 million, people familiar with the situation had previously told Reuters.The Pentagon had stopped deliveries since at least April 11, when Lockheed first acknowledged to Reuters that the Pentagon was not taking new planes. The dispute was over who was responsible for paying to fix corrosion related to an error discovered in the second half of 2017.Last year, the Pentagon stopped accepting F-35s for 30 days after discovering corrosion where panels were fastened to the airframe, an issue that affected more than 200 of the stealthy jets. Once a fix had been devised, the deliveries resumed, and Lockheed hit its target aircraft delivery numbers for 2017.A lack of protective coating at the fastening point that would have prevented corrosion was identified as the primary problem, the Pentagon said at the time.Lockheed said an agreement had been reached with the Pentagon, adding that it expected to hit its F-35 delivery target of 91 aircraft for 2018. </s> The Defense Department has resumed accepting F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) after reaching an agreement on covering the costs to fix a production error, Reuters reports.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Reuters previously had reported that the cost of the fix was $119M.

The Pentagon had stopped accepting the jets on March 29, the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program office tells Reuters, in a dispute over responsibility for paying to fix corrosion related to an error discovered late in 2017.

The U.S. military, U.S. allies that own F-35s and LMT are making the necessary repairs to all aircraft, Reuters reports, citing the DoD’s office in charge of the fighter program. </s> WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense resumed accepting F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin Corp last week after reaching an agreement on who would cover the costs to fix a production error, the Pentagon told Reuters on Monday.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The cost of the fix was $119 million, people familiar with the situation had previously told Reuters.

The Pentagon had stopped accepting the jets on March 29, the Pentagon's F-35 Joint Program office told Reuters in a statement. The dispute was over who was responsible for paying to fix corrosion related to an error discovered in the second half of 2017.

The military, U.S. allies that own F-35s and Lockheed Martin are making the necessary repairs to all aircraft, the Pentagon's office in charge of the fighter program said in the statement.

The majority of aircraft will be repaired within two years, the statement said.

Shares of Lockheed added to gains after the news and were up 1.4 percent at $315.90 in late afternoon.

Last year, the Pentagon stopped accepting F-35s for 30 days after discovering corrosion where panels were fastened to the airframe, an issue that affected more than 200 of the stealthy jets. Once a fix had been devised, the deliveries resumed, and Lockheed hit its target aircraft delivery numbers for 2017.

A lack of protective coating at the fastening point that would have prevented corrosion was identified as the primary problem, the Pentagon said at the time.

On Monday, Lockheed said an agreement had been reached with the Pentagon, adding that it expected to hit its F-35 delivery target of 91 aircraft for 2018. (Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis) </s> Take a look at just how the F-35 operates in the battle space.

DELIVERIES of the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter have resumed after a clash between the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin over who pays to repair problems afflicting many of those already in service.

The company confirmed earlier this week that the stealth fighter was once again rolling off the production lines, with new deliveries being made to its US and international clients.

But who is responsible for the repair bill remains unknown.

And the incomplete nature of many existing F-35 stealth fighters is reportedly presenting real issues for pilots training to fly the advanced aircraft in combat.

Military.com reports the training unit at Eglin air force Base in Florida has its F-35s on ‘life support’ and is struggling to meet training requirements.

The issue emerged in March when the need to make quality control fixes to some 200 F-35s already delivered was raised.

While the nature of the new problems are being kept secret, a similar delivery shutdown was initiated last year after it was the corrosion of joints between the aircraft’s radar-absorbing composite panels and the aluminium structure was discovered.

Lockheed Martin was found responsible for not applying a specified corrosion-prevention treatment.

Reuters reports a Lockheed Martin spokesman this week refused to comment on whether it was their company or customers who will conduct the new repairs — or pay for them.

Lockheed spokesman Mike Friedman said: “While we don’t discuss specific cost figures and contracting terms, we have a comprehensive plan in place to effectively and efficiently address the F-35 hole primer issue.”

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“The F-35 Joint Program Office, along with the US services, international allies and Lockheed Martin, have implemented a comprehensive corrective action plan to make the necessary repairs to all aircraft while minimising impact to operations,” a statement reads. “The majority of aircraft will be complete within 24 months with the remaining aircraft completed as their availabilities/modification timing allows.”

The commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing which is training pilots in the F-35 told Military.com reports that it needs more aircraft and considerable upgrades to those it has.

Colonel Paul Moga said his unit had been forced to find workarounds to give its trainee pilots necessary time in the air.

“We are at the end of our rope as far as finding creative ways to generate more sorties in the same amount of daylight with the same aircraft, because you run the risk [of overrunning the fleet and breaking it],” Moga said.

Many of the fighters being used by the 33rd Wing are early production models, completed before many technical challenges had been solved. The issue is now both a lack of aircraft, and a lack of availability among the aircraft it has, he said.

“It stresses the system. Every single day we are maximum-performing in regards to the amount of student training that we do,” Moga said. “Everybody’s aware that that fleet is on life support right now.”

He places the blame at a lack of spare part availability, as well as the need to upgrade aircraft equipment and software to actual operational standards.

These are similar issues to those reported by the first unit to operate the Marine Corp’s F-35B ‘Jump Jet’ version of the Lightning II. </s> Lockheed Martin Corp. is once again delivering new F-35 fighter jets, having arrived at an agreement with the U.S. Dept. of Defense over the maintenance costs on currently operating F-35s, a dispute that led the Pentagon on March 29 to stop accepting new aircraft.

The defect is described as airframe corrosion, which was first discovered in 2017.

No specific details of the agreement have been released by the Pentagon or Lockheed. Citing its own sources, Reuters news service reported the repairs will cost $119 million, and will be completed for all the affected aircraft within two years

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is a single-engine aircraft fitted with Stealth technology and designed to deploy for ground attack or combat. More than 200 of the high-tech jets already are in service with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy, and with defense forces in the U.K., Australia, Italy, Norway, and elsewhere.

Related: New Report Hints US May Slash F-35 Purchases

The F-35 program is beset by numerous cost-related problems, some relating to the delivery costs and others to maintenance issues. Lockheed and other major contractors have been working to reduce the unit costs for new deliveries, but maintenance issues present a separate budgetary concern for the service divisions. DoD has recently suggested that maintenance and repair costs to the jets currently in service could force it to reduce the number of new aircraft it purchases.

Lockheed and its F-35 program partners (Northrop Grumman Corp, Pratt & Whitney, and BAE Systems plc, and others) are scheduled to deliver 90 new jets this year, building toward a peak production rate of 160 new jets per year by 2023. </s> COPENHAGEN, March 23 (Reuters) - Boeing lost a lawsuit against Denmark on Friday which related to the Danish government's decision to buy Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II combat jets in preference to Boeing's F/A 18 Super Hornets.

Boeing had taken Denmark to court over a lack of access to documents used in the government's decision to buy the Lockheed Martin jets.

"The court has found that the authorities' decisions on refusal of access to the documents are legal and valid," Copenhagen's city court said in a summary of the verdict on its website on Friday.

Boeing said it would issue a statement later on Friday.

After Denmark decided to buy 27 of Lockheed Martin's new warplanes in 2016, Boeing complained that the evaluation process for the planes competing for the order had been "flawed" and demanded access to the documents in the case.

Denmark's defence ministry had denied Boeing access because the U.S. company had not specified which documents it wanted to see, and that it would too large a task to find all documents since preparations for the order began in 2005. (Reporting by Teis Jensen. Editing by Jane Merriman) </s> FILE PHOTO: Boeing's logo is seen during Japan Aerospace 2016 air show in Tokyo, Japan, October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Boeing (BA.N) lost a lawsuit against Denmark on Friday which related to the Danish government’s decision to buy Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) F-35 Lightning II combat jets in preference to Boeing’s F/A 18 Super Hornets.

Boeing had taken Denmark to court over a lack of access to documents used in the government’s decision to buy the Lockheed Martin jets.

“The court has found that the authorities’ decisions on refusal of access to the documents are legal and valid,” Copenhagen’s city court said in a summary of the verdict on its website on Friday.

Boeing said it was disappointed by the decision and would now review it and consider how to proceed.

After Denmark decided to buy 27 of Lockheed Martin’s new warplanes in 2016, Boeing complained that the evaluation process for the planes competing for the order had been “flawed” and demanded access to the documents in the case.

“Boeing initiated this legal action to gain a better understanding of the evaluation process, in which we believe the Ministry made a number of critical errors and omissions in its evaluation,” Boeing said in a statement on Friday.

Denmark’s defence ministry had denied Boeing access because the U.S. company had not specified which documents it wanted to see, and that it would too large a task to find all documents since preparations for the order began in 2005.
The United States Department of Defense says it has resumed accepting deliveries of F-35 Lightning II fighter jets from manufacturer Lockheed Martin after resolving a dispute over a production error which was leading to corrosion.