Varley has been awarded a contract to collaborate with Lockheed Martin on the design and development of portable ground facilities for the US Air Force (USAF) personnel deployed to support the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme in Australia.
The deployable ground facilities to be developed under the contract can expand thrice the size of a shipping container.
The facilities can also house F-35 fighter aircraft’s autonomic logistics information system (ALIS) and support personnel.
The ALIS is designed to provide off-board information system hardware, software and data that performs maintenance management, fault diagnostic, supply support, mission planning, and training management.
Varley USA CEO Matt Hederstrom said: “These new, portable cabins will be a vital part of F-35 operational capability and will ensure our allies’ top-secret systems and personnel who support these airframes will be securely housed and protected.
“Once we have shown success with the Australian F-35 programme, we expect to see demand take-off for our portable facilities in the US and around the world.”
The portable cabins will also house the off-board system that will be used across the F-35A, F/A-18F Super Hornet, E/A-18 Growler, and P-8 Poseidon airframes.
The contract will be in effect until 2019.
The F-35A Lightning II is intended to replace the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) Hornet fighter fleet.
The Australian Government selected the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35A Lightning II in 2009.
