Lockheed, Pentagon reach F-35 deal that will add jobs in Fort Worth | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon reached agreement on a $8.2 billion contract for the next 90 F-35 fighter jets that reduces costs by $728 million and will lead to 1,800 more jobs in Fort Worth.

In a statement, Lockheed said the savings represent a reduction of nearly 8 percent in the price of the fighter jet over its last contract, pushing the price tag for each F-35A built for the Air Force to $94.6 million. That marks the first time the per-plane cost has fallen below $100 million.

“The increase in the number of aircraft in this agreement enables us to reduce costs by taking advantage of economies of scale and production efficiencies,” Lockheed said in a statement.

In Washington, news of the contract was announced at the White House where President Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters that it represented “another big win the president has delivered on for U.S. taxpayers.”

The contract has been under negotiation for more than a year and represents the 10th tranche of planes in the $379 billion program that’s expected to produce about 3,000 jets. The program came under fire from Donald Trump in December, after his election, when he tweeted that its costs were “out of control.”

His criticism led to subsequent meetings between Trump and Lockheed’s CEO Marillyn Hewson, who pledged that Lockheed was committed to bring down the cost and hire another 1,800 workers at its Fort Worth complex, where the F-35 is being built.

Earlier this week, Trump signaled that the contract was near completion, declaring the program now in “great shape” after Lockheed trimmed $600 million in costs.

In its statement on Friday, Lockheed credited Trump’s involvement with advancing the deal.

“President Trump’s personal involvement in the F-35 program accelerated the negotiations and sharpened our focus on driving down the price,” said a statement, posted by Lockheed on Twitter. “The agreement was reached in a matter of weeks and represents significant savings over previous contracts.”

Lockheed added that the deal will “create 1,800 new jobs at our Fort Worth, Texas factory and support thousands more jobs in our supply chain.”

Lockheed builds the F-35 in west Fort Worth, where it employs about 14,000 including 8,800 working who work on the stealth fighter program. The new workers are expected to be hired through 2020 as production increases.

To date, Lockheed has delivered more than 200 F-35s to the U.S. military and seven other nations.

Cost control

Lockheed and the U.S. government have been working to bring down the F-35’s cost for years.

In 2011, the two sides took steps to “reset” the program when it was six years behind schedule and $13 billion over budget. And in 2014, Lockheed and its corporate partners announced a plan to spend $170 million through 2016 to drive down the plane’s cost from more than $100 million apiece to about $80 million by the end of the decade.

“With initiatives like Blueprint for Affordability and the natural learning curve, we are substantially bringing the cost of each aircraft down and at the same time the F-35 program will continue to add thousands of additional jobs to the U.S. economy as we increase production year over year,” said Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin F-35 Vice President and General Manager, in a statement.

Deliveries of the 90 planes in Lot 10 will begin in early 2018. The contract includes 55 jets for the U.S. and 35 for seven international partners including the 3 for United Kingdom, 6 for Norway, 8 for Australia, 2 for Turkey, 4 for Japan, 6 for Israel and 6 for South Korea.