Lockheed Hits F-35 Aircraft Production Goal for 2018; Greg Ulmer Quoted

Lockheed Martin has built and delivered 91 F-35 fighter jets to military customers this year, up 40 percent from 2017 deliveries and a 100 percent increase over 2016 production levels.

The U.S. Marine Corps received the 91st aircraft, an F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant, at a USMC air station in Beaufort, S.C., the company said Thursday.

Greg Ulmer, vice president and general manager for the F-35 program at Lockheed, said the milestone demonstrates the F-35 enterprise’s preparedness to produce the aircraft at a full rate and address a demand from customers worldwide.

The company has supplied 54 units to the U.S., 21 to international partner nations and 16 to foreign military sales clients during 2018.

According to Lockheed, the current price of the F-35A conventional takeoff-and-landing variant is $89.2M per unit and the program aims to reduce the cost to $80M by 2020 under lot 14 production.