Jane Edwards
The Defense Department aims to generate at least 5 percent in savings on the cost of the next batch of 130Â Lockheed Martin-built F-35 fighter jets, Reuters reported Monday.
Mike Stone writes sources said Lockheed and DoD are in talks over a deal that seeks to save $660 million on the next lot of 100 F-35A planes for the U.S. Air Force and allied troops.
That figure reflects a 5 to 7 percent reduction in the price of the company’s takeoff-and-landing aircraft model, sources told the publication.
The news on current negotiations came two months after the company finalized an $8.5 billion contract with DoD to deliver 90 lot 10 F-35s and nearly a month after Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, head of the F-35 joint program office, said that his office expects Lockheed to cut the price of F-35A to $80 million or less per unit by 2020.
Lockheed has begun to collaborate with Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney subsidiary to establish a supply chain for the Fort Worth, Texas-based production line as part of cost-reduction efforts for the F-35 program, the report added.
