Northrop Grumman Increases Production of F-35 Lightning II Center Fuselage

“This pace of military aircraft production has not been seen in decades,” said Kevin Mickey, the company’s sector vice president and general manager of military aircraft systems.

The center fuselage is produced at the company’s Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence, a state-of-the-art factory that incorporates robotics, autonomous systems, virtual 3D and predictive automation into its integrated assembly line—all technologies that are exclusive to or have been pioneered by Northrop Grumman.

Organized Lightning: Northrop Grumman’s integrated assembly line ramps up. 

“Our revolutionary approach on the integrated assembly line pairs advanced technology with data-driven analytics to manufacture advanced aircraft while delivering top quality products on time, and often ahead of schedule,” said Mickey.

The facility is part of the U.S. Air Force’s massive Plant 42 complex, which has produced some of the U.S. military’s most advanced war planes, including the B-2 and B-21 bombers and Northrop’s high-altitude surveillance drones.

Northrop Grumman is playing a key role in the development and production of the F-35. In addition to producing the jet's center fuselage, the company develops, produces and maintains several sensor systems, avionics, mission systems and mission-planning software, pilot and maintainer training systems training, electronic warfare simulation test capability, and low-observable technologies. Northrop is part of the Lockheed Martin-led industry team that develops three variants of the F-35, including the Lightning II.

The F-35’s producers are under pressure from Congress to reduce the cost of the fighter jet, which is the most expensive U.S. weapons program. Congress has said the U.S. “can’t risk the F-35 program being like the F-22 program,” said Mike Turner of Ohio, chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Subcommittee, referring to the F-22 program that experienced massive cost overruns and delays before being scrapped.

Northrop believes that improving production efficiencies at its Palmdale facility will help keep the price of the warplane in check. “Every efficiency, every minute, and every dollar we save reduces costs and speeds up the F-35’s availability to the warfighter,” said Frank Carus, Northrop Grumman’s vice president and F-35 program manager.