Lockheed Martin has started the production of Denmark’s first F-35 fighter aircraft at its plant located in Fort Worth, Texas, US.
The front fuselage for the aircraft, which has arrived on the production line at the plant, will contain the cockpit.
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Slated for completion by the end of this year, the F-35 aircraft will arrive at Luke Air Force Base next year.
There the fighter aircraft will be included in the training for the Royal Danish Air Force.
The interns will be in Fort Worth until June this year as part of a special training programme sponsored by Terma.
Denmark joined the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in 2002 during the system development and demonstration phase and has influenced technical elements of the aircraft. It confirmed plans to procure 27 F-35As in June 2016.
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By GlobalDataVarious Danish companies such as Terma and Multicut secured work related to F-35 and are manufacturing parts such as pylons, advanced composites, machine parts, radar components and horizontal tail edges on every single aircraft.
Since the early 1950s, Lockheed Martin and the Danish Armed Forces partnered for the T-33 Shooting Star, F-104 Starfighter, C-130 Hercules and the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
At present, Denmark is building parts and components for the projected 3,100 F-35 aircraft to be manufactured.
Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin won a $1.9bn contract from the Pentagon to support operations and sustainment of the global F-35 fleet and continue to improve readiness and reduce cost.
By 2025, the company continues to pursue 80% mission capable rates in the near term and aims to reduce the F-35 cost per flight hour to $25,000.
