[US] Navy Orders Four F-35C Strike Fighters

[spazsinbad]

Navy Orders Four F-35C Strike Fighters
30 Jun 2020 Richard R. Burgess

"ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has ordered four F-35C Lightning II joint strike fighters from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., the Defense Department said in a release. Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin a $360.8 million not-to-exceed undefinitized contract modification to previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract for the procurement of four Lot 14 F-35Cs. The aircraft are being procured with fiscal 2020 funds....

...On June 29, Lockheed Martin also received a $67.7 million contract modification for long-lead materials parts, and components to “maintain on-time production and delivery of nine lot 16 F-35A Lightning II aircraft for the government of The Netherlands, as well as seven F-35A semiconductors and two F-35B Lightning II aircraft for the government of Italy,” the release said."

Source: https://seapowermagazine.org/navy-order ... -fighters/

[talkitron]

Four F-35Cs is very low. Is this four for say one fiscal quarter or four for the entire year?

[Corsair1963]

These additional aircraft....says paid for with FY20 funds???

[aussiebloke]

I suspect these four F-35Cs aren’t additional aircraft to what was originally funded for FY20.

The FY20 NDAA funded 20 F-35C:
Page 16 of
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/i ... 0FINAL.pdf

A contract for 16 F-35C was awarded on March 31, 2020 from FY20 funds:
https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contra ... vDelivery/

This new order presumably completes the full 20 aircraft procurement.