The US Department of Defense has entered into an agreement with Lockheed Martin Corporation for the supply of 78 fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighter jets with a total value of $ 4.7 billion, the Pentagon press service said yesterday.
“An additional agreement to the main contract has been concluded with Lockheed Martin Corporation, which provides for the production of 78 F-35 family fighters, including 48 F-35A for the Air Force, 14 short take-off and landing fighters F-35B for the Marine Corps and 16 carrier-based F-35C fighter aircraft for the Navy, “the report said.
Troops are expected to receive aircraft by March 2023. The average cost of one aircraft will be just over $ 60 million. This batch was the largest purchase of fifth-generation F-35 fighters since the beginning of this year.
As of early March 2020, the Pentagon planned to purchase a total of 2,456 F-35s. Now in service with the American army are 354 F-35 fighters of all types. The total volume of deliveries of these aircraft to all customers has already exceeded 500 aircraft.
In October 2019, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Defense signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to manufacture and supply 478 F-35 fighters.