Lockheed Martin agreement with the Pentagon to produce 850 F-35 fighter jets over a decade

🔸The U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced that it has reached an initial agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense on the sale of at least 850 radar-evading F-35 fighter jets over the next 10 years.

🔸According to Reuters on Thursday, 30 Mehr, the value of the agreement is estimated at at least $78 billion, but its implementation requires approval from the U.S. Congress and it is still not tantamount to recording a final purchase order for the fighter jets.

🔸Under the agreement, Lockheed Martin plans to maintain production of 156 F-35 jets per year for U.S. and foreign customers and to allocate at least $7 billion of its own resources to develop production, repair, and maintenance capacity for these fighter jets.

🔸The radar-evading F-35 fighter jets have been among the military aircraft used by the United States and Israel in the war against Iran. The announcement of the new agreement is taking place at a time when this war and other regional conflicts have increased demand for fighter jets, weapons, and air defense systems.

🔸Lockheed Martin also announced that the value of the company’s recorded but undelivered orders has reached a record $292 billion. This increase is partly due to a $52.5 billion contract for the production of interceptor missiles for the Patriot system, whose stocks were heavily used during the Iran war.

🔸Following the release of this news, Lockheed Martin’s stock value increased by up to 10% in Thursday’s trading, and the company raised its annual sales forecast to about $80 to $82 billion.