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Apex Industries Inc. is the newest Canadian industrial partner with Lockheed Martin on the F-35 Lightning II program. This agreement uses the machining expertise of Apex for aluminum metallic components, and they will produce structural parts that span the forward fuselage and wing. The agreement is a multi-year contract with all work being completed at Apex’s Moncton location in New Brunswick.
The award to Apex is a recent example of how Lockheed Martin is partnering with Canadian Industry for the F-35 program. This opportunity is part of the more than $11 billion to be offered to Canadian Industry over 30 years and adds to the more than $500M in contracts to date. While supporting the program, Apex can utilize and mature their capabilities to capture more opportunities in the future. Currently, there are more than 34 Canadian suppliers on contract to the F-35 program.
“Lockheed Martin is honored Apex Industries is joining the F-35 Canadian Industrial team to bring value to the program as we increase our production rates and further reduce the cost of our aircraft,” said Keith Knotts, Lockheed Martin’s director of F-35 Business Development in Canada. “Apex’s contribution will be substantial F-35 machining work which is extremely important as the program continues to grow.”
The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations and advanced in service support (sustainment). Three distinct variants of the F-35 will replace the A-10 and F-16 for the U.S. Air Force, the F/A-18 for the U.S. Navy, the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier for the U.S. Marine Corps, and a variety of fighters for at least 10 other countries. The U.S. Air Force plans to declare Initial Operational Capability with the CTOL (Canada’s preferred variant) in 2016.
Apex Industries is a Canadian, privately held corporation with 225 employees. They support various aerospace customers including Boeing Defense, Bell Helicopter, Bombardier and, now, Lockheed Martin.
