The Pentagon has announced a deal worth $ 34 billion for the new batch of stealth jets from aerospace company Lockheed Martin. Under the terms of the deal announced on Tuesday, which includes jets for the US and allies, the US Department of Defense has purchased 478 units. Ellen Lord, the Pentagon's top acquisitions official, said that "enormous progress has been made”Between the Pentagon and the aerospace company. "This is a historic milestone for the F-35 program“Said Lord. "The deal will form the backbone for US and allied fifth generation assets for the foreseeable future".
Lord also added that the Pentagon has focused the terms of the deal on new armaments, lower total costs and greater respect for delivery times.
According to data released on Tuesday, the price of the F-35, however, is not falling as well as Pentagon officials hoped.
The cost of the aircraft's engine, made by Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies, is not decreasing at the same rate as the rest of the Lockheed Martin aircraft, F-35 program director Lt. Gen. USAF Eric Fick told reporters. .
Pratt & Whitney officials, in this regard, have specified that they have already cut the price of the F135 engine - by more than half - from 2009 to 2018. Now, the company intends to reduce the price only as a percentage of orders, said spokesman John Thomas, who also specified that a further reduction in costs can only be achieved through major technological updates.
New data on the price of each example of the program was released a day after the United States Department of Defense announced it had concluded the billion-dollar deal with Lockheed Martin for 478 F-35s.
When Pentagon officials announced last June that they had reached a "rough agreement" with Lockheed for the 478 F-35s, the largest batch purchased to date, they also said they expected an "average price reduction for Jet. about 15% ". After reading the data on Tuesday, the reduction was quantified, however, at 12-13 percent.
Prices, according to insiders, for all three versions of the plane will continue to drop over the next three years. The F-35A, the version piloted by the US Air Force and most allies, is expected to drop from $ 89,2 million to $ 77,9 million by 2022. The F-35B, the vertical landing version of the Marine Corps is expected to drop from $ 115,5 million to $ 101,3 million, while the F-35C, on the other hand, will drop from $ 107,7 million to $ 94,4 million.
Ellen Lord, Undersecretary of Defense for the acquisition on the sidelines of the Pentagon briefing said: "This agreement highlights our ongoing commitment to convincingly reduce the costs of the F-35 in order to incentivize the industry to meet the required performance and deliver advanced capabilities at the best price for our taxpayers. Lockheed, Lord added, has improved delivery times to 96%, up from 64% last year. "