Lockheed Martin received $625 million on Nov. 3 toward an undefinitized contract for Lot 9 of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon announced. The funding will keep Lockheed and its suppliers funded as negotiations on Lot 9 and 10 continue. Lot 9 has a ceiling price of $5.37 billion, but “obviously we are hoping to go below that,” JSF system program office spokesman Joe DellaVedova said, and that ceiling will be reduced by the $625 million award this week and a previous long-lead award of $698 million. The Defense Department hopes to conclude and definitize the Lot 9 and 10 deals “by the end of the year” and have a “handshake deal” with Pratt & Whitney for the engines in those lots at the same time, signing a contract “in early 2016,” he added. Lot 9 covers 41 F-35As, of which 26 are for the US Air Force, six for Norway, seven for Israel, and two for Japan; 12 F-35Bs, evenly split between the US Marine Corps and Britain; and two F-35Cs for the Navy. Naval Air Systems Command awarded the modification. The breakdown of where the work will be done is: Fort Worth, Texas, 30 percent; El Segundo, Calif., 25 percent; Warton, UK, 20 percent; Orlando, Fla., 10 percent; Nashua, N.H., five percent; Nagoya, Japan, five percent; and Baltimore, Md., five percent.
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
