Alcoa wins nine-year contract with Lockheed Martin for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

New York-based lightweight metals provider Alcoa has announced it has been awarded a contract to supply titanium for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II aircraft program, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Under the contract, Alcoa becomes the titanium supplier for airframe structures for all three variants of the F-35 over nine years, from 2016 to 2024. At current projected build rates, the contract has an estimated value of about $1.1 billion.

Alcoa will supply titanium plate and billet from several operations gained through the RTI Intl. Metals acquisition. Under a different existing contract, Alcoa will use the metal to forge all of the largest titanium bulkheads for the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) variant at its Cleveland operations. Approximately 75 percent of all F-35s produced are CTOLs.