Lockheed Martin reportedly close to $9bn F-35 contract with Pentagon
The Department of Defense in the United States is ready to pen a deal with contractor Lockheed Martin worth $9bn for its controversial F-35 fighter planes, according to reports.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
$461.29
10:59 26/04/24
President-elect Donald Trump criticised the Pentagon towards the end of 2016 for overspending on such defence contracts, specifically citing the F-35 as an example of how Lockheed takes advantage of the defence budget.
"The F-35 program and cost is out of control, Trump tweeted in December. "Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th." He also went on to suggest that Boeing, one of Lockheed's competitors, may be touted as a potential replacement for building similar planes.
The new deal, first reported by Reuters, would lead to a drop in the price of each F-35 to below $100m. The fighter jets account for the biggest chunk of the Pentagon's budget.
The defence department in the US has said that it expects to spend $391bn on the supersonic warplanes over the coming decades.
Trump may claim that the lowering in price of the planes is down to his pressure, but the company had already said last July that it was looking at more cost-effective ways to construct the machines.
Lockheed Martin is due to present its earnings report for the final quarter of 2016 next Tuesday 24 January, after beating analysts' expectations the last time around.