buglerbilly
04-06-10, 02:44 AM
By ANTONIE BOESSENKOOL
Published: 3 Jun 2010 13:05
Lockheed Martin's chairman and chief executive said June 3 he sees the company increasing its international sales from the current 14 percent to 20 percent in the next couple of years as international interest grows in its Littoral Combat Ship, C-130J cargo aircraft, missile defense programs, Joint Strike Fighter and F-16 aircraft.
Robert Stevens said he expects Lockheed sales to grow 4 percent this year. (Tom Brown / Staff)
Robert Stevens said he also expects Lockheed sales to grow 4 percent this year, driven by the maturity of its programs and an increasing proportion moving to fixed-price contracts. Currently, 45 percent of Lockheed's contracts are fixed-price, he said.
With the F-16 aircraft, Stevens said Lockheed has a backlog of 80 planes and there is the potential for sales to Bahrain, India, Iraq and Taiwan.
"The long-term horizon for us looks pretty good," Stevens said at an investor conference in New York hosted by Sanford Bernstein.
Stevens also addressed the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the company's and the Pentagon's biggest defense program. The DoD recently recertified the program after it had breached the Nunn-McCurdy statute that caps per-unit cost growth on weapons.
Stevens said there is "a lot of confusion" on the JSF program, and that the program has experienced cost and schedule "pressures." But, he said, "Is this a program that's off track? Not in any way.
"We need to focus on three areas," Stevens said: carrying out the development of the aircraft to lower risk, increasing the momentum of the flight test program, and accelerating the plane's production through the low-rate initial production lots.
Year-to-date, Lockheed has completed 96 test flights, slightly ahead of the 92 it had planned to complete by this time, Stevens said.
DoD slowed the rate of ramping up JSF production with a program restructuring earlier this year, but Stevens said Lockheed wouldn't support slowing that rate further.
If the rate was lowered further, the risk of cost growth would increase, he said.
"We ought to be given the opportunity to demonstrate we can perform on this program," Stevens said.
Lockheed canceled the first test flight of the Navy version of the JSF on June 2 because of bad weather, but would attempt a flight later in the week, Lockheed spokesman Chris Geisel said.
Published: 3 Jun 2010 13:05
Lockheed Martin's chairman and chief executive said June 3 he sees the company increasing its international sales from the current 14 percent to 20 percent in the next couple of years as international interest grows in its Littoral Combat Ship, C-130J cargo aircraft, missile defense programs, Joint Strike Fighter and F-16 aircraft.
Robert Stevens said he expects Lockheed sales to grow 4 percent this year. (Tom Brown / Staff)
Robert Stevens said he also expects Lockheed sales to grow 4 percent this year, driven by the maturity of its programs and an increasing proportion moving to fixed-price contracts. Currently, 45 percent of Lockheed's contracts are fixed-price, he said.
With the F-16 aircraft, Stevens said Lockheed has a backlog of 80 planes and there is the potential for sales to Bahrain, India, Iraq and Taiwan.
"The long-term horizon for us looks pretty good," Stevens said at an investor conference in New York hosted by Sanford Bernstein.
Stevens also addressed the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the company's and the Pentagon's biggest defense program. The DoD recently recertified the program after it had breached the Nunn-McCurdy statute that caps per-unit cost growth on weapons.
Stevens said there is "a lot of confusion" on the JSF program, and that the program has experienced cost and schedule "pressures." But, he said, "Is this a program that's off track? Not in any way.
"We need to focus on three areas," Stevens said: carrying out the development of the aircraft to lower risk, increasing the momentum of the flight test program, and accelerating the plane's production through the low-rate initial production lots.
Year-to-date, Lockheed has completed 96 test flights, slightly ahead of the 92 it had planned to complete by this time, Stevens said.
DoD slowed the rate of ramping up JSF production with a program restructuring earlier this year, but Stevens said Lockheed wouldn't support slowing that rate further.
If the rate was lowered further, the risk of cost growth would increase, he said.
"We ought to be given the opportunity to demonstrate we can perform on this program," Stevens said.
Lockheed canceled the first test flight of the Navy version of the JSF on June 2 because of bad weather, but would attempt a flight later in the week, Lockheed spokesman Chris Geisel said.