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Pentagon to buy 31 Lockheed Martin stealth fighters

NEW YORK (AFP) – The Pentagon has ordered 31 F-35 stealth fighter jets from American multinational Lockheed Martin in a deal worth some 3.5 billion dollars, the company said Friday.

The contract for the Joint Strike Fighters sets out a delivery of 30 planes for the US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy as well as one jet destined for British forces, Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

The Netherlands also has an option to buy one such jet from the world's largest defense company.

Including funding which has already been made available for the program which includes delivery of several variants, the total value of the deal will reach 3.9 billion dollars.

"We are focused on getting 5th generation fighter capability into the hands of US and allied pilots as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible," said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager.

The current contract adds to an earlier one also for 31 F-35s, of which three have already left the company's factory in Fort Worth.

The United States is planning to equip its forces with a total of 2,000 F-35s, which have been developed in cooperation with Britain's BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman, to replace its aging fleet of F-16s and F-18s.

Other countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Turkey and Italy, have also been involved in developing the program.

Lockheed Martin, a Maryland-based company, said there are about 900 suppliers in 45 US states, and the F-35 program directly or indirectly employs about 127,000 people. Thousands more are employed in its partner countries.

Israel in August approved the purchase of 20 F-35 fighters.