IBC Engineered Materials to provide castings to Lockheed Martin for F-35 Lightning II

IBC Advanced Alloys Corp., Vancouver, B.C., has announced that its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, IBC Engineered Materials Corp., Wilmington, Mass., has been selected by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control to provide cast components for the electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) on the F-35 Lightning II fighter. The first component covered by this contract is an EOTS azimuth gimbal housing to be manufactured using Beralcast®, the company's proprietary beryllium-aluminum casting alloy.

This first contract is for production of OEM aircraft fitted with EOTS and spares for low-rate initial production (LRIP) lots 7 and 8. Preproduction has begun at the Wilmington manufacturing facility, with initial deliveries scheduled to begin later this year and into 2015. The EOTS assembly being produced by Lockheed Martin is for all the F-35 variants, and planned production quantities are estimated to be more than 3,000 aircraft with deliveries through 2035.

Beralcast alloys are suitable for applications requiring lightweight, high-stiffness parts. They can be substituted for aluminum, magnesium, titanium, metal-matrix composites, pure beryllium, and powder metallurgy beryllium-aluminum.