Lockheed Martin Awarded $4.7 Billion for 78 F-35 Combat Jets

In one of the biggest single contracts for the F-35 jets, Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $4,708,927,970 contract to manufacture 78 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) combat aircraft.

The contract includes 48 F-35A combat aircraft for the US Air Force, 14 F-35B combat aircraft for the Marine Corps, 16 F-35C fighter aircraft for the US Navy.

Work is expected to be complete by March 2023, a US DoD announcement said Tuesday.

The contract will push up the US military’s inventory for the F-35 significantly and reinforces the JSF  as  the mainstay fighter  of the US air force, navy and marines.

In another F-35 related contract Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is awarded $202 million  to continue to develop, sustain and produce software builds as well as carryout developmental flight tests in support of the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.