PREMIUM: Lockheed Martin confident of meeting $25,000 F-35 flight hour target
New sustainment plans could see Lockheed Martin reduce operating costs of the F-35 to $25,000 per flight hour.
The GS0 Launch System can be activated from austere locations. (Photo: ABL Space Systems)
ABL Space Systems announced on 5 April that it will provide Lockheed Martin with routine launches of RS1 rockets to accelerate payload technologies into orbit on small satellites.
Lockheed Martin will purchase up to 26 vehicles until 2025 and then up to 32 additional launches until 2029.
‘Launches could use a network of US and international launch sites, including Vandenberg Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and in the United Kingdom,’ ABL noted.
ABL provides launch services with the RS1 launch vehicle and GS0 deployable launch system, which are both under development with funding from the US Space Force.
Using GS0, Lockheed Martin would deliver military and civilian payloads into orbit from deployable launch locations.
‘We believe that routine, dedicated access to space for small satellites is critical to achieving US and allied civil and defence priorities,’ said Dan Piemont, president and co-founder of ABL.
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New sustainment plans could see Lockheed Martin reduce operating costs of the F-35 to $25,000 per flight hour.
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