AW&ST: DOD Authorizes More Funds To Cover Stalled F-35 Contract
Sep 7, 2016
Almost two years after the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin the latest F-35 contract, the company is still waiting on the funds needed to build the next batch of fighter jets.
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, said Sept. 7 that the department is still negotiating deals for the ninth and 10th batches of Lockheed’s F-35, valued at about $16 billion total for more than 140 aircraft for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and international partners.
As negotiations drag on, Lockheed is being forced to pay suppliers out-of-pocket for long-lead work on the next batch of aircraft. But the Pentagon is at last providing some relief. The department recently authorized additional funding to reimburse the company for costs incurred on an anticipated 10th batch of F-35s, Kendall said. The latest agreement, officially called an undefinitized contract action (UCA), comes on top of a similar deal to refund Lockheed for costs associated with the ninth lot of aircraft, Kendall said.
The Pentagon has been promising that a contract award to Lockheed for the combined ninth and 10th F-35 Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) lots is just on the horizon for almost a year now. The Joint Program Office had hoped to announce an agreement at the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK in July, but no such deal emerged. The last F-35 contract, valued at $4.7 billion for 43 jets, was signed in November 2014.........