Meanwhile for all the pissers, moaners, and 'what will we do when it’s cancelled' crowd, the numbers of F-35’s delivered has now reached 300. And, as its numbers go up exponentially with time, it should go further up the scale quite quickly.
The price of an F-35A has reduced more than 60 percent from the first contract, labor by about 75 percent over the last five years and production span time about 20 percent since 2015.
300th F-35 delivered, costs falling towards 'same levels as current fighters'
From the beginning the F-35 program had eight partner countries that helped pay for development. These are now slated to purchase over 600. Israel, Japan and South Korea came on board before development was completed. This is not taking into account the F-35’s that will go the the US Air Force, USMC and the US Navy.
800 planes are expected to be bought by other countries through the Foreign Military Sales program with potential customers including Belgium, Finland, Germany, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, India and United Arab Emirates.
Over the long term, other major air forces that consider themselves potential US allies will want an aircraft as survivable, versatile, cost-effective, and, as capable of working closer with U.S. air power than any other competing aircraft.