Norway Plans To Buy 12 F-35 Jets In 2019-2020

Norway is planning to purchase 12 Lockheed Martin-built F-35 joint strike fighters in 2019-2020.

Norway’s defense department submitted a 2017 budget proposal in parliament recently which outlined the country’s plans to purchase 12 planes in the 2019 and 2020 “block buy,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

“They continue to stay strong in the program and it shows the confidence they have in the F-35,” said Ken Ross, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth, where the airplane is built. Norway had plans to buy 52 aircraft.

By committing to buying the F-35 in a future block, the economy of scale will help drive down the cost to the desired $80 million to $85 million per plane, from $112 million per copy in 2013. F-35 customers plan on procuring about 450 aircraft from 2018 to 2020.

“Norway and other international partners on the F-35 program have been involved in the concept of a block buy since its inception,” said Joe DellaVedova, a Pentagon spokesman for the F-35 program. “Due to vast economies of scale, all countries will achieve significant reductions on the price of their jets”.