Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and the Department of Defense’s F-35 Joint Program Office have reached a $30 billion agreement for the company to manufacture and deliver up to 398 fighter jets for the U.S. military and international customers.
The deal covers the production of 145 lot 15 F-35s and 127 lot 16 jets and includes an option to build 126 lot 17 units for allies including Belgium, Finland and Poland, Lockheed said Friday.
All three batches will be equipped with a new integrated core processor, an improved memory unit and a panoramic cockpit display as part of the Technical Refresh-3 hardware upgrade.
“This contract strikes the right balance between what’s best for the U.S. taxpayers, military services, allies and our foreign military sales customers,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt, program executive officer of the F-35 JPO.
Lockheed completed 141 out of 148 planned deliveries in 2022, bringing the global F-35 fleet size to 894.
Lockheed is sponsoring GovCon Wire’s 2023 Space Acquisition Forum, where Air Force space acquisition chief Frank Calvelli will serve as keynote speaker. This virtual event is scheduled to happen on Jan. 18.
