After winning the $18.9-billion contract to build the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in the summer of 2002 placed a $12.3-million order with Ingersoll Milling Machine Co. for custom-made machine tools to produce parts for the stealthy tactical aircraft. As of April of this year, Lockheed Martin had paid Ingersoll more than half the contract price but it still had no machines delivered. Then came the jarring news. Ingersoll had shut down. A giant in the machine tool field, Ingersoll was one of five companies in the world capable of manufacturing sophisticated machinery used in the production of both metal and composite parts for airframes and engines. The Rockford, Ill., factory had sent signals of possible trouble in recent years when it sold off several divisions. But the cessation of operations came as a surprise that sent a Shock wave through the machine tool and aerospace industries. "It was a sudden development," a Lockheed Martin official said. "It got people's attention."
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