Navy awards Lockheed Martin $348 million contract modification for F-35 Lot 12

The Navy yesterday announced a $348 million contract modification to Lockheed Martin for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The adjustment "is for production [of] non-recurring, special tooling and special test equipment" for Lot 12 of the program’s low-rate initial production phase for the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, as well as non-Pentagon partners and sales to foreign countries.

Lockheed is slated to finish the work by August 2022, according to the announcement.

The Pentagon last month said it completed a $34 billion "handshake agreement" with Lockheed for Lot 12 of the F-35, with options for Lots 13 and 14.

Defense Department acquisition chief Ellen Lord at the time said the deal attained about a 15% average reduction across the F-35's variants from Lot 11 to Lot 14.

"This framework estimates the delivery of an F-35A for less than $80 [million] in Lot 13, one year earlier than planned," Lord said in a June statement.

"This agreement symbolizes my commitment to aggressively reduce F-35 cost, incentivize industry to meet required performance, and to deliver the greatest capabilities to our warfighters at the best value to our taxpayers," the statement continued.