Lockheed F-16 Production Line Opens in South Carolina; Michele Evans Quoted

Lockheed Martin celebrated the opening of an F-35 aircraft production line at a newly refurbished hangar in Greenville, S.C. with ribbon-cutting ceremony held Tuesday.

The company said Tuesday it plans to begin producing F-16 Block 70 jets at the facility later this year and create more than 400 jobs to support the new manufacturing line.

Block 70 features an active electronically scanned array radar and updated avionics and structural components.

Bahrain, Slovakia, Bulgaria intend to procure the fourth-generation aircraft with the latest configuration. The State Department recently cleared foreign military sales of new F-16 Block 72 units and F-16V upgrades to Morocco.

“This is an exciting time as we celebrate another important milestone for the F-16,” said Michele Evans, executive vice president of Lockheed’s aeronautics business.

“The future is bright, and it begins right here in Greenville, South Carolina ‒ the new home of F-16 production,” Evans added.