Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has received a $100,455,916 firm-fixed-price order to manufacture brake assembly heat sinks for the F-35 Lightning II, according to the Defense Department's contract announcements for May 26, 2026. The order, identified as N0001926F0266, was issued by Naval Air Systems Command on behalf of the F-35 Joint Program Office and covers 1,459 heat sinks intended to address a thermal management constraint affecting the aircraft's wheel brakes.
What the Order Covers
The award funds procurement of 1,459 brake assembly heat sinks, split between two F-35 variants. Of the total, 1,075 units are designated for the F-35A, the conventional takeoff and landing variant flown by the U.S. Air Force and most international partners, and 384 units are designated for the F-35B, the short takeoff and vertical landing variant. The heat sinks are a component of the aircraft's wheel brake assemblies, and the procurement is aimed at resolving thermal management constraints so that the program can sustain its serviceable-brake requirements across the fleet.
The contract is structured as a firm-fixed-price order, meaning Lockheed Martin will deliver the specified quantity at the agreed price of $100,455,916 regardless of its own cost variances. As GuruFocus reported on May 26, 2026, the roughly $100.5 million order is for F-35 aircraft components and was secured by Lockheed Martin as the program's prime contractor. Work will be performed in South Bend, Indiana, with completion expected in March 2030, giving the effort a delivery window of nearly four years from announcement.
The split between variants is itself informative. The 1,075 heat sinks earmarked for the F-35A and the 384 for the F-35B together total the full 1,459-unit buy, with the conventional A model accounting for roughly three-quarters of the order. That weighting tracks the wider fielding of the F-35A across the U.S. Air Force and partner air arms, while the smaller F-35B quantity reflects the more specialized short takeoff and vertical landing fleet. Because the order is identified by a single contract number, N0001926F0266, both variant quantities are being procured under one firm-fixed-price action rather than as separate buys, consolidating the brake-component requirement into a single managed effort under the F-35 Joint Program Office.
Why Heat Sinks, and How It Is Funded
Brake heat sinks absorb and dissipate the thermal energy generated when an aircraft decelerates on landing and during ground operations. On a high-performance aircraft like the F-35, repeated heavy braking can push brake temperatures to levels that degrade serviceability, and the heat sinks in this order are being procured specifically to relieve that thermal management constraint and keep brakes within their serviceable requirements. Defence-Blog characterized the effort in May 2026 as Lockheed winning roughly $100 million "to fix a heat problem grounding F-35s." That grounding framing is the publication's headline; the contract facts themselves describe the work in terms of resolving a thermal management constraint and sustaining serviceable-brake requirements rather than confirming any fleet-wide grounding.
The funding for the order is drawn from multiple sources, reflecting the F-35's status as a joint U.S. and international program. Approximately $43.8 million comes from aircraft-procurement (Air Force) funds and approximately $28.6 million comes from aircraft-procurement (Navy) funds, reflecting the Air Force and Department of the Navy stakes in the program; the announcement labels these as service aircraft-procurement appropriations and does not break out which dollars buy which variant. An additional $10.9 million is provided through Foreign Military Sales, the channel through which allied governments buy U.S. defense articles, and approximately $17.2 million comes from international partner funds contributed by the nations that co-finance the F-35 program. The combination of service appropriations, FMS dollars, and partner contributions on a single order illustrates how the program distributes the cost of common sustainment items across its participants. Taken together, the four streams add up to the full order value, with U.S. service funds, Air Force and Navy combined, supplying the largest share at roughly $72.4 million, and the FMS and partner portions together accounting for roughly $28.1 million. That blended structure means a single component buy is simultaneously a domestic appropriation, an FMS transaction, and a cost-shared partner-nation expenditure, each with its own funding rules attached to the same delivery schedule.
What It Means for Contractors
This order is a sustainment buy rather than a new-aircraft procurement, and that distinction matters for the contractor base. The 1,459 heat sinks are being purchased to keep an already-fielded fleet flyable by resolving a brake thermal constraint, with deliveries running through March 2030. For suppliers, sustainment work of this kind tends to be steadier and longer-running than the production ramps tied to airframe deliveries, because it follows the operational tempo and wear of aircraft already in service. The nearly four-year completion horizon signals a multi-year demand stream for the specific component and its subtier inputs.
The designated place of performance, South Bend, Indiana, points to where that activity will be concentrated and where supply-chain and workforce effects are most likely to be felt. Companies that supply materials, machined parts, or processing services into a South Bend brake-component line have a defined window in which to position themselves, and the firm-fixed-price structure means the prime carries the cost risk, which typically pushes disciplined pricing and schedule commitments down through the supplier tier. The funding profile is equally instructive: with Air Force, Navy, Foreign Military Sales, and international partner dollars all flowing into one order, subcontractors should expect the documentation, compliance, and traceability expectations that accompany FMS and partner-funded work, not just domestic appropriations.
Finally, the award reflects the sole-source reality of the F-35 program. As the airframe's prime contractor, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. is the integrator through which brake-component procurements like this one are channeled, and the order was issued directly to it by Naval Air Systems Command. For most firms, the practical path to this work is as a subcontractor or supplier into Lockheed Martin's F-35 sustainment chain rather than as a direct competitor for the prime award. The cost-sharing across services, FMS customers, and partner nations also means demand for these heat sinks is tied to the health of the broader international F-35 enterprise, so the supplier opportunity is as durable as the program's global sustainment commitments.
Sources
GlobalSecurity.org -- Contracts for May 26, 2026
GuruFocus -- Lockheed Martin (LMT) Secures $100.5M Order for F-35 Aircraft Components
Defence-Blog -- Lockheed wins $100M to fix a heat problem grounding F-35s
