Changing the supply chain it uses to deliver parts and services to the U.S. military may help Lockheed Martin win new contracts, but improving its internal supply chain and manufacturing turned out to be the only way the company could keep up with increasingly complex weapons systems like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Traditionally, when the Bethesda, Md., company won a contract for a new weapons system, it typically would create a whole new production and maintenance operation for that specific system. It would manufacture parts itself that were custom-designed for that system and stockpile replacements for ongoing sale.

As military contracts have gotten more complex, and pressure to contain costs has become more intense, however, Lockheed Martin has had to change the way it does business. Rather than custom-build parts for every system, for example, the company relies more on contractors to supply parts that often come right off the shelf or include only minimal customization.

The Department of Defense has adopted a similar approach with many of its own systems, partly to keep its computer systems up-to-date in an environment in which commercial PCs advance far more quickly than military procurement processes allow and to cut costs.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, for example, is designed to save money by allowing the Navy, Air Force and Marines to each fly a version of the same jet that is customized for their needs, while sharing 70 to 90 percent of the parts involved. The cost of each aircraft will range from $45 million to $60 million.