Pentagon, Lockheed sign F-35 contract

The Pentagon said that it has reached a "fixed-price" agreement with Lockheed Martin for a fourth batch of F-35 fighter jets, wrapping up months of negotiations about the U.S. military's biggest weapons program.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the deal includes 30 jets for the United States and one for Britain and an option for one for the Netherlands.

He said the contract provides a "fair and reasonable" basis for the fourth lot of production jets and "sets the appropriate foundation for future production lots" of the $382 billion multinational Joint Strike Fighter program.

Lockheed, based in Bethesda, said the new contract was valued at more than $5 billion, including sustainment costs for the new radar-evading fighter jets and tooling needed for their production.

Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter and Lockheed chief executive Robert Stevens signed the agreement Tuesday.

Whitman gave no details on the price per airplane negotiated in the contract, but he said it was below independent cost estimates released earlier this year. He said the deal, initially expected in May, took longer to negotiate given a shift to a "fixed-price, incentive fee" contract structure two years earlier than planned.

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