Rheinmetall to be awarded F-35 centre-fuselage manufacture

Rheinmetall is to be awarded manufacture of the centre-fuselage section of the F-35 as part of a wider industrial offset package for Germany. (Lockheed Martin via Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Rheinmetall is to be awarded manufacture of the centre-fuselage section of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as part of a wider industrial offset package for Germany.

Lockheed Martin announced on 17 February that a letter of intent (LOI) had been signed between itself, Rheinmetall, and Northrop Grumman, which currently manufactures the centre-fuselage section for the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the international F-35 programme.

“This potential partnership would establish a second F-35 centre-fuselage integrated assembly line (IAL) in Germany, expanding the significant role European industry plays in the F-35 programme,” Lockheed Martin said.

News of the LOI with Dusseldorf-based Rheinmetall came days after the other principal industry partner, BAE Systems, announced that it had delivered the 1,000th aft-fuselage section to Lockheed Martin from its Samlesbury plant in northern England. The LOI announcement did not disclose how many centre-fuselage sections Rheinmetall would be responsible for manufacturing, but the current DoD and international programme of record is for more than 3,000 conventional take-off and landing F-35As, short take-off and vertical landing F-35Bs, and carrier variant F-35C aircraft.

Of these, Germany is to receive 35 F-35As to satisfy the nuclear strike role of the Luftwaffe's Tornado replacement programme. With a letter of offer and acceptance signed in December 2022, a contract is expected to follow soon. Deliveries are scheduled to be launched in 2026 and completed by 2030.