Cleared For Production

Photo by John Rossino

Lockheed Martin opened a new 57,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Pinellas Park, Florida, on 22 February 2012 to produce aircraft canopy components for the F-35 Lighting II. The new facility is an annex to the existing 197,000 square foot building that has been producing structural components for more than ten different aircraft types, including C-130J, F-22, F-16, C-5, and P-3 since 1997. The Pinellas Park operation began with eighty employees and has since grown to a workforce of 250 people, with additional jobs expected as the F-35 program moves toward peak production. The expanded facility can support production of up to twenty F-35 canopies a month. The canopy includes the transparency, frame, ejection pyrotechnics, and other support structures.