{"id":19756,"date":"2017-01-19T08:10:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-19T08:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=19756"},"modified":"2017-01-19T08:10:33","modified_gmt":"2017-01-19T08:10:33","slug":"pentagon-lockheed-near-deal-9-billion-f-35-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/pentagon-lockheed-near-deal-9-billion-f-35-contract.html","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon, Lockheed near deal on $9 billion F-35 contract"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pentagon, Lockheed near deal on $9 billion F-35 contract<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Pentagon, Lockheed near deal on $9 billion F-35 contract:-<\/strong> The U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) are close to deal for a contract worth almost $9 billion as negotiations are poised to bring the price per F-35 below $100 million for the first time, people familiar with the talks said Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The F-35, the Pentagon’s costliest arms program, has drawn fire from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump who has made lowering prices for military equipment a pillar of his transition into office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Talks are still ongoing for the tenth batch of stealthy fighter jets with a deal for 90 planes expected to be announced by the end of the month, three people said on condition of anonymity.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Lockheed representative declined to comment and a representative for the fighter program said negotiations are ongoing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. Defense Department expects to spend $391 billion in the coming decades to develop and buy 2,443 of the supersonic warplanes. Though the F-35 program has been criticized by Trump as too expensive, the price per jet has already been declining. Lockheed, the prime contractor, and its partners have been working on building a more cost-effective supply chain to fuel the production line in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n

The overtures from the incoming administration may have had some effect, but Lockheed’s F-35 program manager Jeff Babione said last summer that the price of the F-35A conventional takeoff and landing version of the jet would drop to under $100 million per plane in this contract for the 10th low-rate production batch.<\/span><\/p>\n

The F-35 comes in three configurations, the A-model for the U.S. Air Force and U.S. allies; a F-35 B-model which can handle short takeoffs and vertical landings for the Marine Corps and the British navy; and carrier-variant F-35C jets for the U.S. Navy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lockheed and its main partners, including Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N), United Technologies Corp’s (UTX.N) Pratt & Whitney and BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L), have been developing and building F-35s for the U.S. military and 10 allies.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Oct. 25 Lockheed, the world’s largest defense contractor, reported a quarterly profit that handily beat analysts’ expectations, as sales of its Sikorsky helicopters pushed total revenue up 14.8 percent. Lockheed is set to host its fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:- http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-lockheed-pentagon-idUSKBN15308A<\/span><\/div>\n

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