The Defense Department and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) have finalized an $8.5 billion contract for the manufacturer to supply 90 lot 10 F-35s, an order that is $728 million less than the cost of the previous batch of the fighter jets, Reuters reported Friday.
Mike Stone writes the latest F-35 deal lowers the price of the aircraft from $102 million per unit to about $95 million.
The tenth lot covers the production of 55 jets for U.S. military branches and 35 jets for the program’s international partners and foreign military sales customers.
Lockheed said that production efficiency measures, economies of scale and President Donald Trump™s personal efforts helped drive down costs, Anthony Capaccio and Julie Johnsson wrote in a report for Bloomberg.
The lot 10 contract was negotiated for more than a year and was finalized after Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson assured Trump in late 2016 that the company would reduce the F-35 price.
Lockheed and its partners BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) and United Technologies Corp.‘s (NYSE: UTX) Pratt & Whitney subsidiary collaborate to establish measures to increase the F-35 production line capacity.
