Coffman: Lockheed Martin Likely To Split JSF Contract

Coffman: Lockheed Martin
Likely To Split JSF Contract



04/26/00 06:38:53 PM U.S. EDT

Lockheed Martin Chairman, CEO and President Vance Coffman said his company is likely to split the $200 billion Joint Strike Fighter production contract with competitor Boeing Co. The Pentagon, he said, is getting away from its original plan to award a winner-take-all contract.

Coffman’s comments, made today at the Aerospace Finance Executive Symposium in New York, jointly sponsored by Aviation Week & Space Technology and Credit Suisse First Boston, are similar to those of Frank Statkus, vice president and general manager of the JSF program for Boeing. Statkus said last week that winner-take-all probably won’t be the end scenario, and that Boeing is likely to work out some kind of teaming arrangement with Lockheed Martin.

Coffman told reporters that the odds are better than fifty-fifty that winner-take-all would be abandoned. He said a number of alternatives are being studied by the Dept. of Defense. Lockheed Martin, he said, probably wouldn’t be consulted on the idea of splitting the contract for some 3,000 jets and is focusing on winning.

In prepared remarks, Coffman said sales of F-16 fighters will help boost earnings this year. The company has orders from the Egypt, Greece, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.


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