http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070402/lockheed_ma...tract.html?.v=1


Lockheed Martin Receives $150M Contract
Monday April 2, 1:50 pm ET
Lockheed Martin Receives $150 Million Contract From Mitsubishi Heavy Industries


FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. said Monday that it received a $150 million contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to make components for five additional F-2 production aircraft.
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Mitsubishi Heavy is the prime contractor for the F-2, Japan's operational support fighter.

The Japanese government recently authorized the total production of 94 F-2 aircraft, with Lockheed's new deal bringing the total aircraft under contract to 86.

Under the new pact, Lockheed will provide all of the aft fuselages, wing leading-edge flaps and stores management systems; 80 percent of all left-hand wing boxes and other avionics and avionics support equipment.

Lockheed components are shipped to Mitsubishi Heavy's Komaki-South plant in Nagoya, Japan, and are assembled with other components by Mitsubishi Heavy to form the F-2.

Deliveries under the new contract are set to begin in February 2008.

Lockheed began delivering F-2 components to Mitsubishi Heavy in 1998.

Shares of Lockheed Martin added 7 cents to $97.09 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Hmmm an F-16 variant . Great platforms, great abilities. An excellent support aircraft.

I agree, it's sad that they didn't build 130 as planned (and I think that even 130 is too few.)

The F-16 is an awsome platform. 1 of the first true multirole aircraft. They can dogfight with just about anything out there and act as an attack platform equally well. It is a 1970's design that was well ahead of its time. Most newer platforms are using ideas based on the f-16.
examples.
f-18
f-117
f-22
f-35
B-2
What more need be said.

The F-16 can probably do pretty decently in a dogfight, but it wasn't designed primarily as an air-to-air fighter. It was more of a ground attack aircraft (for example of aircraft that were designed for air-to-air alone, think F-14, F-15, and F-22.)







What do the B-2, Lightning II, Raptor and F-117 have to do with the F-16? Please explain.

The fly by wire computer system of the f-16 was adapted to the 117 first.. Later variants can be found in the other aircraft. The point being the F-16 was the test bed for all current fly by wire systems.(Including the space shuttle)

Okay, thanks. The F-16 was famous as the first fly-by-wire aircraft (it was actually designed to be unstable to begin with, and had to rely on a computer to keep it stable in flight.)

Very true.
Its success has paved the way for todays fly by wire systems.
Ever hear of the F-22 tiger shark? It was a Northrup design based loosely on the F-5. It too was an awsome platform but never gained support due to political reasons. It could do just about anything the F-16 could but cost less.
It could start its own engines and be airborn to 30,000 ft in a fraction of the time of the F-16.
That is a sad story about politics killing an awsome plane.

Oh yeah. Taiwan tried to buy the F-20 but was denied. Who knows what that plane could have done.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/japan/f-2.htm

Seems like this hasn't been something new or out of the blue. They've had Fighters for a while now. Japan has had one of the largest Military budgets for a while now, what the hell are these spending it on?

Japan's industry is heavily domestic and subsidized (usually through political pork-barreling,) therefore, military equipment costs maybe twice in Japan what it would elsewhere (the F-2 costing maybe $130 million apiece compared to $60 million for a comparable F-16 Block 60?) Japan's large military budget does not necessarily reflect its military strength.

LOL same is true of the USA Military budgit that gets so much press. Its loaded with pork paying for things that have nothing to do with the military. Road improvements etc. If I am not mistaken Japan flies some F-15's dont they?

Oh yeah. Corn, canola oil, etc. in the US military budget. A lot of it is special interests.





Yup, Japan has 223 F-15Js, most built domestically under license.

That is 1 helluva airforce

Oh yeah. The F-15s are over 20 years old, though, and the F-4s are slated to be replaced soon. US won't release F-22 to Tokyo after all, so looks like a big bonanza for the European fighters like Eurofighter and JAS-39, unless the Super Hornet and the F-15E can get in on the game.

The super hornet is a badass ride too. The F-4??? Well I am pretty sure they suck.

F-2 isn't really a great plane to begin with. It was poorly designed upon a solid foundation. Limited armaments, software glitches with the AESA RADAR, structural problems with the airframe, not to mention using the same single F110 carried over from the F-16 Block 50/52 while the total weight of the aircraft increased doesn't really allow it to outperform its predecessor.

The existing fleet of F-15J will most likely go through modernization upgrades, and perhaps weapons integrations to allow the Eagles to lob off the JASDF's inventory of vampires. Those Eagles have at least about 15 years of service life left on them, and I doubt that the Japanese will be willing to throw them out so willingly after spending billions of shebang on building and maintaining them.

Two F-2s sit on the flightline at Andersen AFB, Guam, awaiting takeoff.