Janicki Industries hosted an interactive cockpit demonstrator event near Hill Air Force Base in Layton on Thursday, highlighting the importance of the F-35 program to national security as well as an ongoing boost to Utah’s economy.
Speaking over the “sound of freedom” as aircraft would fly over, the event featured remarks from Utah Rep. Blake Moore; Chauncey McIntosh, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin; and Marshall Hagen, Janicki’s senior manager of strategic growth.
“The expansion (Janicki is) doing already adjacent to here is significant,” Moore said, who recently secured $6.5 million in project funding for the planning and design of a dedicated F-35 canopy maintenance facility. “It’s a huge investment, and from everybody in this community, we want to thank the leadership at Janicki, Lockheed and just tell you thank you for trusting our communities, our workforce and investing in the Hill Air Force Base apparatus.”
The 100,000-square-foot facility will expand by another 70,000 square feet once completed, which will expand employment at Janicki from 130 to at least 200.
Maintaining national security
In praising the versatile F-35, Moore said the program establishes superiority for the U.S.
“When there’s a conflict somewhere, the F-35 is the reason that we can establish superiority,” he said. “The F-35 is proving to be exactly what our nation needs regarding dominance that’s crucial for us to deliver peace and security throughout the world.”
Drawing attention to Utah’s role, the representative said “northern Utah is establishing superiority across the globe. “And we’ve seen it in a handful of situations, even in the last couple years.”
As the United State seeks to remain a force throughout the world, Moore emphasized that it is “our communities, that is Hill Air Force Base, that is what we’re doing on a daily basis that goes and influences something so important across the world.”
F-35s or drones?
In the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidential term, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were exploring ways to cut government spending, and the F-35 was no exception, even receiving criticism from the former DOGE leader, according to Forbes.
“The F-35 design was broken at the requirements level, because it was required to be too many things to too many people. This made it an expensive and complex jack of all trades, master of none,” Musk said at the time. “Success was never in the set of possible outcomes. And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway.”
Musk also said the crewed fighter jets are an “inefficient” method of extending missile range or dropping bombs. “A reusable drone can do so without all the overhead of a human pilot.”
But McIntosh said the F-35s are essential, describing them as the “tip of the spear to penetrate,” before drones or any other military tactic can be deployed. “That’s what the F-35 brings as the air superiority main platform for our nation.”
“As the nation looks toward ‘great power competition’ and other adversaries, how do we make sure that we have a resilient and a strong air superiority backbone?
“The F-35 is doing just that.”
“We are combat-proven; we’ve gone in some of the most hostile environments across the globe, completed the mission, brought pilots home safe,” McIntosh said.
It is a big reason the program is ramping up production as the U.S. seeks to nearly double its request in 2027 for the fighter aircraft, per The National Interest.
Not only are F-35s produced for the American military, but they are also produced for 20 U.S. allies, including the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan.
How it supports the Utah economy
With such a high demand, maintaining manufacturing in Utah is a great opportunity for the state, creating more than 5,000 jobs across 19 suppliers, driving nearly $675 million of economic impact annually for the state. In the first district alone, $402 million is driven annually, according to Janicki.
Moore said he is continually seeking funding so Utah can “be the home” for F-35 sustainability. Moore secured $28 million “for the base of the infrastructure that we can then build on.”
Hagen, who helped oversee the transition of Janicki from North Seattle to Utah, saw the Layton location start at about 20 people and says Utah is unique to the company in advancing manufacturing.
“The local state, city governments have been great to help encourage us to invest here in the state of Utah,” Hagen said while noting the growth of local businesses in Utah. “Janicki designs and builds our own large-scale, five-axis machining centers. They’re some of the largest and most precise in all of North America. So our unique capability is the size, the scale, and the precision that we work within, and customers come back to us because we deliver on time and with high quality.”
Moore’s most recent securement of the canopy is another step in Utah being more equipped to repair the growing number of F-35s, “and there’s more to do as the years continue on,” he said.
Flying the F-35
Following the speakers, Moore and others were invited to experience firsthand what it is like to fly the fighter aircraft in a simulator. Moore flew it with ease after previously virtually crashing an F-16 into the Great Salt Lake at a prior event.
Evidently, the F-35 was much easier to navigate, as he did not experience any close calls.
The technology in the fighter aircraft is so advanced that even if the pilot passes out, a cruise control-like mode kicks in until the individual regains consciousness.