Fokker Elmo signed an agreement today at the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) Public Days in Gilze-Rijen, for the delivery of Electrical Wiring & Interconnection Systems (EWIS) on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Under this agreement, Fokker Elmo will be responsible for the engineering, manufacturing and production of the wiring for the next batch of aircraft in low rate initial production lot 8-11.

The agreement for this next batch of F-35 aircraft helps secure high technology work at Fokker Elmo in the Netherlands for 150 highly skilled specialists over the coming years. This agreement also reaffirms Fokker Elmo’s position as a strategic supplier to the F-35 and involves employment in Woensdrecht.

The agreement was signed by Lockheed Martin’s Stephen O’Bryan, vice president, F-35 program Integration of and Mr. Hans Büthker, CEO, Fokker Technologies. Royal Netherlands Air Force Commander-in-Chief, Lt. Gen. Sander Schnitger, and the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for industrial participation, Maxime Verhagen also attended the ceremony.

Hans Büthker, CEO of Fokker Technologies said, “Since we have already delivered more than 125 electrical wiring interconnection and harness systems, it is encouraging to see that Fokker has once again been selected to deliver wiring harnesses and interconnection systems the next batch of LRIP 8 aircraft. We are proud to be a part of Lockheed Martin’s tradition of aerospace leadership and innovation, and we are delighted to contribute to one of the largest and most technologically advanced aircraft programs in the world. With a total estimated production of more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft, this is a major opportunity for our company in the decades to come in terms of employment, knowledge and innovation.”

Maxime Verhagen, the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for industrial participation added, ”After the final decision of the Dutch government to select the F-35, this is another important milestone following earlier successes of the Dutch industrial participation program.This work allows Fokker to have a unique position as a leader in the Dutch aerospace industry with its renowned knowledge infrastructure, and we anticipate many orders to follow in the future for Fokker and other Dutch aerospace companies and institutes.”

Fokker has been a part of the F-35 program since 2002 and has designed, produced and delivered the wiring harness  packages for all F-35 aircraft that are currently flying and in production. Fokker also provides wiring harness packages to Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier for an extensive range of commercial and defense aircraft and aircraft engines. The Fokker Elmo proprietary wiring design and manufacturing system provides a unique and innovative toolset to support aircraft manufacturers worldwide.

Fokker Services press release