 |
| F-35A Production Lot 14 Sold $78 Million Per Unit |
International Military - Lockheed Martin will soon complete production of the F-35 A Lot 14 and will start delivering the first F-35A production Lot 15 aircraft in late 2023.
The delivery of the aircraft will cover some production losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said. As a result of the pandemic, the contract negotiation process for Lot 15 to Lot 17 has been delayed. However, Lockheed Martin believes that a final agreement will be reached by the end of 2022.
“Since then (the pandemic), we have gone through supply chain shutdowns around the world. We've seen inflation that we haven't seen since the '70s. We have suppliers who are so unsure about their supply chain that some of them are unwilling to predict beyond six months what their costs will be," Lockheed Martin said in an interview with Defense News.
It was explained that the price per unit of the F-35A continued to decline. For example, the price per unit of the F-35A in Lot 11 was 89 million USD, now in Lot 14 which will expire soon the price has fallen to only 78 million USD.
However, the company continued, if the order for the F-35A decreases or is cut by the customer, then the price will automatically increase again. Prices will also increase if more capabilities are added than the standard F-35A, the company said.