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| F-35 Under Construction (File Photo) |
By NIGEL PITTAWAY
MELBOURNE - The first Australian-manufactured components for the first Australian F-35A Joint Strike Fighter were handed over to Lockheed Martin Aug. 24 in Melbourne.
Lovitt Technologies Australia, a local precision engineering and machining company, delivered the components, machined longeron assemblies for the F-35A’s keel structure, in a ceremony attended by Minister of Defence Materiel Jason Clare, Head of the New Air Combat Capability Program for the Defence Materiel Organisation Air Vice Marshal Kym Osley and EVP/GM F-35 program Tom Burbage.
“This is an important day for Australia, because it’s the first Australian part on the first Australian JSF,” Clare said at the ceremony. “We’re now taking the next big step, and that is not just making parts for U.S. Air Force or U.S. Navy, or aircraft for other countries, but we’re starting to make parts for our own fighter aircraft. It leaves as a part but comes back as one of the most advanced fighter planes in the world, one which will be the spearhead protecting Australia for many years to come.”
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