Lockheed, Pentagon announce $8.5b. F-35 order
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin Corp. announced on Friday an agreement worth about $8.5 billion for 90 F-35 jets, the lowest price to date for the Pentagon’s most expensive program.
The deal for the 10th lot of the stealthy fighter aircraft brings the price per jet to below $95 million for the first time, compared to $102m. in the previous batch, a savings of $728m.
This is more than the $600m. that US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday he had been able to shave off from the F-35 program, which he had described as “out of control” in December.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement that “President Trump’s personal involvement in the F-35 program accelerated the negotiations and sharpened our focus on driving down the price.”
The price per jet has been steadily declining as production ramps up, and defense analysts have said the discount hailed by Trump was in line with what had been flagged by Lockheed and Pentagon officials for months.
“The increase in the number of aircraft in this agreement enables us to reduce costs by taking advantage of economies of scale and production efficiencies,” Lockheed said.
Lockheed, the prime contractor, and its partners including Northrop Grumman Corp., United Technologies Corp.’ Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems Plc have been working on building a more cost-effective supply chain to fuel the production line in Fort Worth, Texas.
US Air Force Lt.-Gen. Chris Bogdan, who runs the F-35 program for the Pentagon, said on December 19 the cost per plane should decrease about “6 to 7%” for the latest contract.
Friday’s announcement said the cost of the F-35 A conventional takeoff and landing version of the jet had dropped 7.3% since the previous order.
Lockheed and its main partners have been developing and building F-35s for the US military and 10 allies. The F-35 comes in three configurations, the A-model for the US Air Force and US allies; a F-35 B-model which can handle short takeoffs and vertical landings for the US Marine Corps and the British Royal Navy; and carrier-variant F-35C jets for the US Navy. The US Defense Department expects to spend $391b. in the coming decades to develop and buy 2,443 of the supersonic warplanes.