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.
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
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