The US Department of Defense announced that it has signed a contract worth over $7.6 billion with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics to manufacture 129 new F-35 Joint Strikes.
In a press release from the Department of Defense, “Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a contract of $7,630,940,571.” statements were included.
In terms of the unit and number of variants of the F-35 warplanes to be purchased within the scope of the agreement:
Air Force: 49 F-35As
Marines: 3 F-35Bs and 10 F-35Cs
Navy: 15 F-35C for Navy
Also, 32 F-35A aircraft and four F-35B aircraft for units not subordinate to the US Department of Defense; and sixteen F-35As for ‘Foreign Military Sales’ customers.
The US Department of Defense previously told Lockheed Martin Corp on July 18 to produce approximately 375 F-35 fights during the year. The deal was signed amid expectations that the price of the F-35A would rise due to inflation and slow production.
F-35 DELIVERY
Lockheed Martin Corp has delivered more than 800 F-35 fighters to date.
However, the Pentagon’s Defense Contracting Management Agency said production was still plagued with massive defects and rework, causing significant delivery delays.
From the first production batch of the F-35 to the current 14th batch, Lockheed, the Department of Defense’s largest contractor, has improved the process in many ways. However, “too many quality assurance defects” are not noticed at the first assembly station. These flaws are noticed before or after the official adoption of warplanes.
Among the variants, there was a significant increase in the purchase of F-35 combat aircraft. The aviation giant alone made almost 27% revenue from the F-35 Lightning II flight. This ratio is expected to increase given the current and potential sales caused by the war in Ukraine.