Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has been awarded a $323 million U.S. Navy contract for a laboratory to provide an integrated reprogramming capability to build, test, modify and deliver F-35 Lightning II mission data files.

The lab will consist of a hardware-in-the-loop based system to test and analyze mission data file performance.

It will also include a set of tools to build, modify, manage, analyze and publish the data files, among other tasks.

Work will be performed in Texas, Florida, New Hampshire and California and is expected to be done by August 2020.

Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting authority.

Also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35 Lightning is the U.S. Defense Department's fighter of the future for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and various allies.

First British F-35 completes transatlantic crossing
London (UPI) Jul 1, 2016 -The first of Britain's next-generation stealth fighters touched down in the U.K. for the first time, the Royal Air Force announced Thursday.

The F-35B Lightning II was flown by RAF pilot and Squadron Leader Hugh Nichols across the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by two U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs, the RAF said in statement.

The jets took off from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C.

The team of American and British air crews and engineers arrived in the U.K. to demonstrate the 5th-generation aircraft's capabilities at the upcoming Royal International Air Tattoo and Farnborough International Air Show.

The jets are slated to enter service in the RAF and Royal Navy starting in 2018, the RAF said.

"They are part of our plan for a stronger and better defence: more ships, more aircraft, more troops available at readiness, better equipment for special forces, more being spent on cyber," Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said.

The Joint Strike Fighters will fly out of land bases and aircraft carriers, Air Commodore Harv Smith, the Lightning Force Commander, said.