General Dynamics Receives $43.6 Million F-35 Cybersecurity Contract

The Falls Church, Virginia, firm received a $43.6 million firm-fixed-price modification to sustain information technology and cybersecurity services for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program through July 2027.

First Published: July 31, 2026, 1:43 PM ET

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA — General Dynamics One Source LLC received a $43.6 million contract modification to sustain cybersecurity and information technology services for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Navy said as announced on war.gov.

The firm-fixed-price modification, valued at $43,573,376, adds scope to an existing contract held by the Falls Church, Virginia, company. The firm operates as a joint venture of General Dynamics Information Technology and General Dynamics Mission Systems according to gdit.com. Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland, awarded the work without competition.

The modification funds transitional information technology, information assurance and cybersecurity support for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Virtual Enterprise network and standalone workstations. Tasks include enterprise architecture, life cycle management, service desk support, software license management and cybersecurity defense of the aircraft’s data systems.

“These services are essential to supporting the continued fielding of F-35 mission capabilities for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and F-35 cooperative program partners,” the Navy said in the contract notice.

The stakes reach beyond a single ledger entry. The F-35 stands as the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history, and its combat readiness depends on secure networks that manage maintenance data, mission planning and logistics. A breach or outage in those systems could ground aircraft across three U.S. service branches and allied fleets. That risk makes the cybersecurity contractor a quiet but central player in fighter operations.

Arlington, Virginia, hosts 79.9% of the work, with smaller shares at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Patuxent River, Maryland, Fort Worth, Texas, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, China Lake, California, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Fiscal 2026 Air Force aircraft procurement funds of $40.4 million make up the bulk of the money obligated at award. Navy and Marine Corps operations funds and $2.6 million from Foreign Military Sales customers round out the total.

The award marks the first contract to General Dynamics One Source LLC in 2026, bringing the company’s total for the year to $43.6 million. It ranks as the 153rd Department of Defense contract awarded in Virginia during 2026. The sum trails the company’s record award of $465 million and sits well below the ceiling of the Navy’s 2026 portfolio, which reached as high as $8 billion.

For the average U.S. reader, the contract represents a slice of the roughly $850 billion annual defense budget directed toward keeping fielded fighter jets flying and their digital systems shielded from attack. Taxpayers fund the effort. The reliability of the F-35 fleet flying from bases across the country depends in part on work like this.

Sole-source information technology modifications for the F-35 have happened before. General Dynamics One Source has long held major federal technology vehicles, serving as a prime vendor on the ENCORE III and GSA Alliant contracts that supply information technology solutions across the federal government according to gdit.com. Such extensions recur as the program matures and shifts capabilities.

Naval Air Systems Command will oversee the next steps as the contracting activity, with work scheduled for completion in July 2027. No date for a follow-on award decision has been announced.

The F-35 program has weathered contracting turbulence before. Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor, delivered the first operational F-35 in 2015 after years of cost overruns that pushed the lifetime program estimate past $1.7 trillion, according to gd.com. Successive support contracts have kept the fleet flying. Each modification folds another layer of sustainment onto a jet that now equips air forces on three continents.

This contract represents the 1st contract awarded to General Dynamics One Source LLC, in 2026, bringing the company’s total contract value for the year to $43,573,376. It is also the 153rd Department of Defense contract awarded in Virginia during 2026. While this is not the largest contract ever awarded to General Dynamics One Source LLC, whose record stands at $465,000,000, it is notable within the Navy portfolio. Specifically, it falls between the 2026 Navy portfolio’s year-to-date minimum of $9,046,496 and maximum of $8,000,000,000. Overall, this award was announced among 16 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on July 31, 2026.