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.
The $4.26 billion Small Business Innovation Research contracting program widely used by the Air Force went into hibernation as the government shut down Oct. 1, but unless lawmakers strike a deal on reforms, the program could reach an abrupt end.
