F-35 'diminishing manufacturing sources redesign activity'

What happens when you drag an aircraft project out a long time with commercial off the shelf hardware (COTS)?

As one military analyst that looked the following DOD contract stated, COTS hardware has a technology edge for about 18 months. Another observer of defense programs of over 30 years stated that the hardware you need might not be made by anyone years later.

And the F-35 is approaching the 13 year mark since the contract "win" by Lockheed Martin.

I thought TR-2 hardware (needed to run 3i software and up for LRIP-6 and later) was to take care of all this. The $90 million dollar contract says otherwise.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - 16:52
NAVY

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $90,914,168 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price-incentive-fee contract (N00019-12-C-0004) to incorporate the updated system architecture into the original Diminishing Manufacturing Sources redesign activity for the Electronic Warfare System in support of the F-35 Lot VII effort for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marines and the governments of the F-35 International Partners.

Work will be performed in Nashua, N.H. (81percent); Ft. Worth, Texas (19 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2018. Fiscal 2012 aircraft procurement (Navy and Air Force) and international partner funds in the amount of $90,914,168 are being obligated on this award, $71,576,724 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.