Boosts The Cost Of The Program By $5.57 Billion

The Defense Department plans to buy an additional 74 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, a move that will boost the cost of the program by an estimated $5.57 billion.

MSN reports that the action on the contract is an indicator of progress in the negotiations for the next "lot" of the airplanes. DoD Joint Program Office spokesman Jol DellaVedova said that the next lot will include 50 airplanes sold to foreign governments, bringing the total for the lot to 141 airplanes.

It is still not known how much each individual airplane will cost. Following a Tweet earlier this year by then President-elect Donald Trump that the program should be cancelled in favor of less-expensive F/A-18 Super Hornets, the Pentagon ordered a review to compare the two aircraft. The Pentagon later agreed to sell Lot 10 of the JSF ... about 90 aircraft ... at about $85 million each. The JPO said in a statement that the cost per unit of the 11th lot is expected to be less.

F-35 supporters say this new contract shows that the program is moving past its history of delays, and analysts generally give credit to the Trump administration for moving the negotiations along.

FMI: www.jsf.mil, Original Story