Defense Industry
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre deepen their partnership
Skunk Works and NLR say their two-year-old collaboration now covers supply chains, operational analysis, technology roadmaps and unmanned aircraft.
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) announced on 15 October that they are expanding the strategic collaboration they began two years ago as an exploratory memorandum of understanding. The announcement was made at the NL-US Defense Industry Days.
According to Lockheed Martin, the aim is to move advanced technologies from the research lab into operational solutions that support the mission readiness of the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
The next phase rests on four pillars: connecting the Dutch industrial base to the international supply chain, coordinating on military operational analysis, aligning technology roadmaps, and working together on unmanned aerial systems. The partners say they have used joint frameworks, workshops and specialised working groups, and name thermoplastics as one project that has matured.
Ron Fehlen, vice president and general manager of Skunk Works, said: “We have matured specific projects with cutting-edge technologies, such as Thermoplastics.” Tineke van der Veen, chief executive of NLR, described the approach as “global integration rather than isolation”.
The release gives no contract value, programme names or delivery dates, and it does not say which unmanned systems are involved. Lockheed Martin has recently been publicising several European industrial tie-ups; earlier this week Geopolitiki reported on its munitions expansion: Lockheed Martin puts $300 million into Grand Prairie, Texas, as it expands munitions production.
The original release is on the Lockheed Martin newsroom.