The first F-35 center wing assembled at the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta, Georgia, was shipped to the Lightning II final assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, on 15 September 2011. The component is destined for the twenty-fifth production aircraft, an F-35B for the US Marine Corps. The center wing weighs more than a ton and is approximately thirteen feet long and nineteen feet wide at its widest point. Center wing production occupies approximately 280,000 square feet of the Marietta facility’s 3.8 million square foot assembly building. When the currently planned peak production rate is reached in late 2015, the Marietta facility will employ more than 600 people and is scheduled to complete one center wing assembly per working day.
