From the silence on the factory floor where Lockheed Martin produces the F-35 to the deafening roar of take-off, a tour of the factory where 27 fighter jets may be built to replace the F-16s.
On American morning television, a news channel follows US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as he appears before the Senate to explain the request for a record military budget of $1.5 trillion (around €1.3 trillion), including funding for more fighter jets. We flick through the channels and, on the next, more generalist one, there is a lively discussion about the 40th anniversary of ‘Top Gun’, the blockbuster starring Tom Cruise that cemented American fighter jets in the global imagination.
All very fitting, as in a few hours’ time we would be at the place where Lockheed Martin produces the F-35 Lightning II, the current star of military aviation, which Portugal is considering purchasing to replace the ‘old’ F-16s it bought in the 1990s.
In the minibus taking the group of Portuguese journalists to the factory on the outskirts of Fort Worth – in Texas and very close to Dallas – Alisson McKibbin, communications manager for the F-35 programme and a company employee for 32 years, reveals that around 18,000 people work at the factory, with production spread across three shifts.
After passing through security, there is a digital billboard displaying the message “Welcome Portugal Media” – a sign that American marketing charm leaves no stone unturned. Near the main building, a display of flags shows includes a portuguese one. Portugal is not yet part of the F-35 programme, but it is involved in the F-16 Fighting Falcon programme, which also originated here.
Once we’ve got past a few minor bureaucratic hurdles, we suddenly find ourselves walking through a vast industrial space that we don’t even have time to take in before entering the Aeronautics Vision Centre, a space where the company displays quotes on the walls relating to aviation (from Leonardo da Vinci to the company’s founders), innovation, military philosophy, and dozens of photographs from its long history. Or rather, its history, as Lockheed Martin actually resulted from the 1995 merger of the companies founded by Glenn L. Martin (in Los Angeles in 1912) and by brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughead (in Santa Barbara a year later).
In the intervening years, the companies developed state-of-the-art aircraft, missiles, helicopters and space systems for the US armed forces, but also for dozens of other allied nations. Back in a meeting room, Lockheed Martin executives explain that US fighter jets are deployed in 20 countries because the programme boasts global reach, maturity, resilience and interoperability.
A three-way race
When asked whether industrial cooperation might be offered as an incentive to secure the contract – as promised by two potential bidders for Portugal’s procurement contract – the executives say yes and point to concrete steps already taken, but stress that this is not the only factor, merely one of many.
Saab, the manufacturer of the Gripen, is one of the bidders. For the Swedish company, Portugal “has great potential” to produce part of the fighter jets in Portugal, with Daniel Boestad, vice-president of the fighter business unit, stating in April that Critical Software, Thyssenkrupp, Kristaltek and Vangest are already collaborating with Saab on the military fighter jets.
Another organisation in the running is the Eurofighter consortium, comprising Airbus, the British firm BAE and the Italian firm Leonardo. When asked on Wednesday in Munich about the tender, Airbus CEO Guillaume Fauryé told ECO and other Portuguese journalists that the company is cooperating on a European scale. “We guarantee the sovereignty of the solution we have developed”, he emphasised.
The race for the jet contract is still in its early stages. In the case of the US, as part of Foreign Military Sales – the scheme regulating the sale of military products or services by the US government to other countries – the potential buyer must submit a Letter of Request detailing what they wish to purchase. Lockheed Martin executives say they are still awaiting this step from the Portuguese government.
They decline to comment on the prices of the fighter jets. If Portugal chooses to maintain its trust in the US company — with which it reached an agreement to purchase 28 F-16s in 1990, with deliveries arriving four years later — the choice is likely to fall on the F-35A, the most conventional model, whilst the B variant is designed for stealth capability and the C for use on aircraft carriers.
The option appeals to the Portuguese Air Force, as the then Chief of the Air Force Staff, Cartaxo Alves, admitted in May 2024, pointing out that this would require a 20-year commitment of 5.5 billion euros for 27 aircraft.
200 jets spread out over a mile
Scale is one area where Americans rarely fall short. At the Fort Worth factory, we finally have the chance to see and explore the gigantic production line. Leaving the Vision Centre, we are led to a convoy of three golf buggies, each with four seats. Yes, it seems a bit strange at first, but you quickly grasp the logic, recalling even that initial moment of shock at the sheer size of the industrial space. It is a production line stretching a mile – or, in non-imperial terms, about 1.6 kilometres.
Our second ‘guide’ of the day, capture manager Austin Abitz, shares some facts with the group over a microphone as we walk through part of the site. He explains that the facility covers 6.5 million square feet, or nearly 604,000 square metres, forming part of a total area of around 245 hectares.
There are currently 200 F-35s at various stages of production, from initial assembly, through the application of several layers of coating that will give the fighter near-invisibility, right up to the finishing touches. At each workstation there is a screen showing which country the jet is destined for, how many days of work have already been completed, how many remain, any delays, etc. Each year, the Fort Worth factory delivers 156 F-35s, spread across the three models.
But before we head out to see the ‘lightning’ in action during testing and observation, a word about the atmosphere on the factory floor. Contrary to what one might expect, it is extremely quiet, almost silent. Austin Abitz points out that an F-35 today requires a total number of rivets (a metal fastener, similar to a nail) that could fit into a coffee cup. The reference to rivets ties in with a part of American military history, namely Rosie the Riveter, a cultural icon created in the United States to encourage women to work in factories and shipyards whilst millions of men served in the armed forces during the Second World War. In the Lockheed Martin museum-corridor, there is a photo of a riveter, alongside a specimen of the (heavy) tool she used in aircraft manufacturing.
Adding to the unexpected silence of the jet aircraft production floor, several employees ride past us on tricycles, in an unusual scene, as if we were on the streets of New Delhi. “They carry small parts or documents in the metal boxes; it’s a tradition that has been kept alive”, says Alisson McKibbin, our guide.
Austin Abitz drops us off at the minibus again; this time we head straight for one of the 32 hangars that Lockheed Martin uses to house the F-35s that are due to depart and return from test flights. In a matter of minutes, we went from the almost spiritual silence of the production line to a place where, every now and then, a sound rises that is difficult to describe and which halts all other activity whilst it lasts – that of an F-35 taking off or returning to the ground.
We’re in luck: the weather conditions are perfect and there’s plenty of test traffic. The start of ECO’s interview with Carlton ‘Puff’ Wilson, the pilot who carries out the maiden flights of aircraft rolling off the F-35 production line, is immediately interrupted by a fighter taking off, forcing everyone to raise their index fingers to cover their ears.
‘Puff’ is one of the few pilots qualified on all three variants of the F-35 and brings over 15 years of direct experience with the platform. As the 58th person to fly the F-35, he has flown every software version since its inception and has trained over 100 pilots in the use of the aircraft’s advanced capabilities. Prior to that, before joining Lockheed Martin, Puff served 22 years as an officer in the Marine Corps and accumulated over 2,000 flying hours on the AV-8B, F-16 and F-35.
The natural question to ask the experienced pilot is which is his favourite fighter jet. “The short answer is that every aircraft I’ve flown has been a pleasure to fly, and I think every pilot would tell you the same”, he says. “Each one is a bit like our children: they all have different personalities.”
“That said, if I had to go into combat, this is the aircraft I’d want my children to be flying, this is the aircraft I’d want my friends to be flying, because, at the end of the day, it’s what will give them the greatest situational awareness to make decisions and the greatest chance of survival to return”, he emphasised.
He added that, ultimately, “that is what they are looking for”. “Whether they are our friends, our family or our compatriots: we want them to return, we want to preserve those resources, the human resources, the people who are part of our lives, and I think this aircraft is the best way to achieve that”.
AI is both an opportunity and a challenge
Immediately after yet another noise disturbance caused by the F-35s, Wilson lets us hold his helmet, with its custom-made lining. But it’s as if I were holding a baby or a fragile piece of glass: he keeps his hands underneath, ready to catch it. When asked where the nickname, or pilot’s signature, is on the helmet – in Top Gun, Cruise’s ‘Maverick’ was clearly visible in large letters above the visor – he points to a small label at the back with the name ‘Puff’. “It’s another cinema myth”, he admits, laughing.
But the conversation about the helmet doesn’t end there. The pilot points to two small projectors positioned roughly at forehead level, which project all the images needed for navigation and combat onto the visor.
Questions about the technology used in this fifth generation of F-35s get the pilot excited and continue as we return to the meeting table. “We have an artificial intelligence (AI) centre at Lockheed Martin, which does a fantastic job of deciding what we’re going to source from other companies in the sector, what we’re going to manufacture ourselves and, then, perhaps in the short term, what we need to acquire now, whilst we develop something to replace it later”, says ‘Puff’.
“We see artificial intelligence as a major opportunity and, at the same time, a challenge in terms of how to adopt it.” He adds: “We are actively using artificial intelligence on the F-35 for capabilities related to threat identification and also in relation to the logistics system.”
* ECO/eRadar travelled to Fort Worth at the invitation of Lockheed Martin *