F-35 MRO and Upgrade The US DoD has assigned F-35 MRO and Upgrade (MRO&U) capability for the first component repair assignments Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS), for the first 65 of 774 repairables. The assignments were based on data compiled and analysed by the F-35 Joint Program Office that was collected from Partners Nations, FMS customers, and their industries.

These initial Regional MRO&U assignments will support near-term component repair requirements in support of F-35 overseas operations and maintenance and will be reviewed and updated as program needs dictate but no later than the next five years.

As part of the F-35 global sustainment strategy, participating nations were provided with requirements outlining global repair needs for the F-35 component workload. Each country was afforded the opportunity to work with their industrial base to provide the F-35 enterprise work over and above their own F-35 needs. Regional considerations such as forward basing, aircraft phasing, and transportation also contributed to initial assignment decisions.

There are a total of 774 components (broken into 18 categories such as avionics, life support, egress, canopy system, pumps) that will be repaired on the F-35. This current assignment is for 65 of these 774 parts with assignment of the remaining parts to occur over the next 2-3 years. Eventually, the programme intends to have regional repair capability in Europe and the Pacific for all 774 components.

The current assignments are time-phased such that the first repair capabilities will be stood up by 2021 and will serve all F-35s globally until 2025.

The DoD has assigned 48 of the first 65 components to the UK, 14 of the first 65 components to the Netherlands, and three components to Australia for global repairs 2021-2025. These repair capabilities in the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands will serve all F-35s around the world.

For the European Region, the DoD has assigned 51 of the first 65 components to the UK, and 14 of the first 65 components to the Netherlands, with this repair capability to be activated in 2025.

For the Pacific Region, the DoD has assigned 64 of the first 65 components to Australia and 1 component assigned to Korea with this repair capability to be activated by 2025.

These initial repair technology category assignments do not preclude the opportunity for other F-35 Partners and FMS customers, including those assigned initial airframe and engine capabilities, to participate and be assigned additional future sustainment workload, to include other components, Support Equipment, Full Mission Simulators, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS), and Maintenance Training devices as the fleet grows and the F-35 global presence expands.
In the ASPAC region, the DoD assigned, F-35 airframe MRO&U capability to Japan and their industry partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Northern Pacific and Australia and their industry partner, BAE Systems for the Southern Pacific, with both capabilities required no later than early 2018. For Heavy F-35 Engine Maintenance, the initial capability will be provided by Australia and their industry partner TAE, with Japan and their industry partner, IHI Corp., providing additional capability approx. 3-5 years later.