Lockheed Awarded $2-Billion Contract
The Defense Department is expected to announce today that it has awarded a seven-year, $2-billion contract to Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works for maintenance of the F-117 Stealth fighter.
The Palmdale division, which created the warplane, will be responsible for “logistics support, sustainment engineering, material management, technical data and depot repair,” according to an award notification issued by the Air Force.
Maintenance work for the F-117 was previously conducted by civilians at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, which is scheduled to be closed in 2001.
“It’s excellent news for the area and for Skunk Works,” said Lockheed Martin spokesman Ron Lindeke. “In the future, we hope all of these contracts will become that way,” with a plane’s manufacturer taking long-term maintenance responsibility.
Lockheed officials said the company has known about the decision for several months and that it became official Thursday, the first day of the federal government’s 1999 fiscal year.
A few Air Force civilians will probably be reassigned to Palmdale as part of the contract, and Lockheed itself might add staff, Lindeke said.
The decision elicited praise from Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) , who has been pushing for more military maintenance work to be redirected to the private sector.
McKeon “believes that having Lockheed Martin perform maintenance work is the most logical way of making sure the F-117 Stealth fighter is properly maintained,” said his spokesman, David Foy. “The experienced Lockheed work force has the expertise needed to do the job right.”
