Latest F-35 purchase drops below $100 million per aircraft for the first time

The Pentagon announced that the latest lot purchase of 90 F-35 fighter jets dropped to below $95 million per aircraft. This is the lowest per unit price for the stealth fighter yet and was a savings of $728 million compared to the last batch of F-35s purchased.

This news came after President Trump announced that he had negotiated a $600 million reduction in costs on the program.

President Trump’s personal involvement in the F-35 program accelerated the negotiations and sharpened our focus on driving down the price,” Lockheed Martin said. “The agreement was reached in a matter of weeks and represents significant savings over previous contracts. This is a good deal for the American taxpayer, our country, our company and our suppliers.”

Friday’s announcement said the cost of the F-35 A conventional takeoff and landing version of the jet had dropped 7.3 percent since the previous order.

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Lockheed and its main partners have been developing and building F-35s for the U.S. military and 10 allies. The F-35 comes in three configurations, the A-model for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. allies; a F-35 B-model which can handle short takeoffs and vertical landings for the Marine Corps and the British navy; and carrier-variant F-35C jets for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Defense Department expects to spend $391 billion in the coming decades to develop and buy 2,443 of the supersonic warplanes. – Reuters

Whether you give President Trump credit for this reduction in cost or not it is a good thing for American taxpayers and the US Military.

So what do you think? Did President Trump cause the price reduction as Lockheed suggested or did it take place simply because production is ramping up and normal economies of scale?

Featured image by US Air Force