Lockheed Martin on Monday received a $743 million modification to the low-rate initial production lot nine batch of F-35s, providing additional funding for “diminishing manufacturing and material shortages redesign and development,” the Pentagon announced. Under the contract, 27.9 percent or $207.4 million goes toward US Air Force aircraft. The contract also establishes not to exceed prices for one F-35A and one F-35B for a non-US country, in addition to funding for manufacturing, post production concurrency changes, and country unique requirements. The Pentagon in November 2015 awarded the LRIP nine contract, which covered 41 F-35As, 12 F-35Bs, and two F-35Cs. The work under this contracted is expected to be completed by December 2019.
If the Air Force is in line for a big budget bump from President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget in 2027, the head of Air Combat Command said he would make aircraft spare parts his top spending priority—but cautioned that more money to buy parts won’t equal a…
