• The contract will see 165 further lasers delivered to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 Lightning II’s Electro-Optical Targeting System programme.

Finmeccanica – Selex ES has been awarded a contract by prime contractor Lockheed Martin to supply 165 advanced targeting lasers for the F-35 Lightning II’s Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS). The contract forms part of the Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) programme phase.

The laser, integrated into the EOTS, allows fighter aircraft crews to perform precision ranging and targeting functions. The award follows on from existing orders for lasers for the F-35 programme.

Selex ES has developed a strong relationship with Lockheed Martin, successfully delivering tactical lasers on the F-35 EOTS, the Apache helicopter’s targeting and pilotage system, M-TADS/PNVS, and the Sniper^® Advanced Targeting Pod. This latest order for the F-35 EOTS programme is critical to sustaining and strengthening this relationship going forward and further expands Selex ES’s highly successful lasers business in Edinburgh.

Selex ES is also working closely with Lockheed Martin to meet the aggressive cost reduction challenges of the F-35 programme, whilst at the same time enhancing the laser product. F-35 production is expected to ramp to full rate in 2018 with deliveries forecasted for the next 30 years of more than 3,000 aircraft.

The Selex ES laser business has been hugely successful in exporting the products generated by the company’s world-class laser development and manufacturing capabilities. In addition to a number of contracts with US prime contractors, advanced ground-based laser systems were also sold to customers in Europe and the Middle East in 2014.