Lockheed 'meets goal of delivering 45 F-35 jets in 2015'

Lockheed Martin Corp met its goal of delivering 45 F-35 fighter jets to the U.S. government and key allies in 2015, a 25 percent increase from 2014 that brought the number of jets delivered to 154, the Pentagon said on Dec. 21.

Lockheed is on track to receive most associated performance fees, and marked a milestone for the $391 billion F-35 project, the Pentagon's largest arms program, as it prepared for a large production increase in coming years.

"Meeting aircraft production goals is a critical stepping stone in demonstrating the program is ready for the expected significant production ramp up," said Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, who runs the F-35 program for the Pentagon.

Late on Dec. 21, the Pentagon said Lockheed had won a contract worth $1.17 billion to buy titanium and other materials needed to build an 11th batch of F-35 fighter jets.

Lockheed remained in negotiations with the Pentagon about the next two batches of F-35 jets, a deal which could be worth $15 billion. The two sides had hoped to reach agreement before year end, but have pushed the date to the first quarter, said sources familiar with the discussions.

Lockheed is developing and building three models of F-35 jets for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well as for Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Israel, Japan and South Korea.

Key suppliers to Lockheed are Northrop Grumman Corp and BAE Systems Plc. Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, builds the engines for the supersonic jets under a separate agreement with the government.

Pratt is nearing a deal with the F-35 program office for the next two batches of jets, including 60 engines in the ninth set and 100 in the 10th,...