USAF awards F-16 depot sustainment programme contract to Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has won a $900m contract to provide depot sustainment support for the US Air Force (USAF) F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft.

The F-16 Continental United States (CONUS) Depot contract was awarded by USAF’s F-16 System Program Office within the Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate.

Under the contract, the company will provide depot overflow services, depot-level maintenance activities and predefined programmatic work.

The contract is effective for a period of ten years and includes aircraft modification and unplanned drop-in maintenance of the F-16 aircraft.

The USAF F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet is equipped with a turbofan engine and close-range air combat capabilities. It offers advanced interoperable capabilities.

At present, a total of 4,588 F-16 jets have been produced. These are currently under operation with 25 partner countries.

The F-16 CONUS Depot contract is expected to support the nearly 2,000 F-16s.

The latest contract work will be executed at Lockheed Martin’s Greenville site in South Carolina, US. This site is also equipped to support F-16 operations in future years.

According to USAF, the Greenville depot is the first in the US to support the government-owned depot facilities.

The fighter jets make up around 45% of the USAF’s fleet of fighters.

To increase its government depot capacity, the F-16 System Program Office is working with the Ogden Air Logistics Complex (OO-ALC) at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, US.

Last month, USAF deployed the F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 480th Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany to the UAE’s Al Dhafra Air Base.