The Pentagon has awarded Lockheed Martin a $259 million contract modification to add two additional F-35 strike fighters to the jet’s Lot 5 production order. The move tacks on another F-35A for the Air Force and another F-35C for the Navy to the lot. This means that Lockheed Martin will now build a total of 32 Lot 5 airplanes: 22 F-35As, three short-takeoff F-35Bs for the Marine Corps, and seven F-35Cs. Work on the Lot 5 jets is expected to be complete by February 2014, according to the Defense Department’s April 13 contract announcement. Back in December, DOD and Lockheed Martin reached agreement on an undefinitized contract so that work could begin on the initial 30 Lot 5 aircraft.
Air Force exercises in the Indo-Pacific may soon get even bigger and more robust, as lawmakers move to invest more than $620 million in such efforts. The bulk of that money, contained in a $150 billion reconciliation package currently making its way through Congress, is $532.6 million for earmarked for…