The heart of our mission at Arlington International Aviation Products is binding things together. For over 20 years we have distributed highly specialized high strength fasteners for the commercial and defense aviation industry. We are proud to call North Texas home, where we distribute top tier fasteners for our nation’s top tier fighter jet: the F-35 Lightning II.
Defense manufacturing is a huge part of our economy and like many sectors of the economy, we feel the ebb and flow of decisions made in Washington, D.C. With the Trump administration undertaking a tremendous reset to how the United States presents itself on the world stage, there are many changes that are causing ripples across our economy and the defense industry in particular. As the administration presses ahead, it is crucial that decisions are made to support our nation’s defense industrial base.
We cannot risk being underequipped and unprepared. Now is the time to make bold investments in the most advanced technology that the market can produce. To safeguard our dominance of the skies the United States must ramp up production levels of the F-35 Lightning II program.
The F-35 was recently upgraded in a package of advancements that enable the F-35 to carry more weapons, identify targets with enhanced precision, and improve its electronic warfare capabilities. Like much of our modern technology, the F-35 is designed to be upgraded so unlike its predecessors, the fighter can adapt to new technology as it is being developed. In fact, the F-35 is the quarterback of the battlefield – communicating with and controlling unmanned aerial systems. The F-35 brings the best of both worlds, manned and unmanned, together in one platform.
When we hear our leaders talk about the incredible products that the United States is capable of making, we should think first of the F-35. In Texas alone, this one aircraft creates a whopping $9.9 billion impact every year and supports tens of thousands of jobs. And as every proud North Texan knows, new F-35s roll out of the assembly line in Fort Worth every week, fastened together by highly engineered parts that we distribute at Arlington International Aviation Products.
We’re counting on our leaders in the Texas Congressional delegation to stand up for defense manufacturing across the country and especially in Texas, where over 100 companies manufacture components for the F-35. That means action now. The world – allies and enemies alike – are watching. The United States must shore up our military by equipping our men and women in uniform with the best our industrial base can produce: the F-35 Lightning II.
Rick Ferguson is the Vice President of Sales at Arlington International Aviation Products based in Arlington, Texas.