F-35 Partners and the Box Score

The Lot 8 contract for the F-35 program awarded Friday includes 14 jets for international partners. They include two F-35As each for Israel, Italy, and Norway; four F-35As for Japan and four F-35Bs for Britain. The contract also provides “manufacturing support equipment as well as ancillary mission equipment,” the program office reported. Israel has a stated need for 75 F-35s, but has recently signaled that number may climb above 100, although it may buy them in smaller lots than planned. Lockheed Martin will start delivering on Lot 8 in early spring of 2016, the program office reported, and once the lot is complete, “more than 200 F-35s will be in operation by eight nations,” it said in a statement. To date, the F-35 program has delivered 115 F-35s, and more than 3,200 of the fighters are planned to be built by the US, eight development partner nations, and, so far, three Foreign Military Sales customers.