Lockheed Martin And The Controversial F-35

Abstract

Over the course several years - from late in the 1950s to the early 1970s - Lockheed was embroiled in the “Deal of the Century” where the company was found guilty of bribing foreign countries’ governments to select the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter over arguably better alternatives in addressing those nations’ respective air force needs.  Today, Lockheed Martin is the leading contractor on the F-35 Lightning II project, which is intended to produce the world’s most advanced stealth strike-fighter for US armed forces and those of several allied foreign nations.  However, the F-35 program has become the single most expensive project in American history and has been beset with serious technical problems, major schedule delays, cost overruns, and the F-35’s performance capabilities are seen by many as inferior to the nation’s potential adversaries’ fighter aircraft, if not inferior to the aircraft it is intended to replace.