Lockheed Martin Corp. received two more production contracts worth $7.8 billion for 71 F-35 jets, the Pentagon said Friday.
The announcement for the sixth and seventh contracts is for 36 and 35 jets respectively.
The sixth contract, including money already allocated, is valued at $4.4 billion, of which $742 million was awarded Friday.
The seventh contract is valued at $3.4 billion.
The contracts contain provisions that, unlike the five previous contracts, will require Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin toabsorb all cost overruns, the Pentagon program office said in a statement.
Lockheed Martin will get to keep 80 cents for every $1 that costs fall below targets, the Pentagon said.
Friday’s contracts mean that Lockheed Martin has 166 production aircraft under contract; the 100th is scheduled to roll off the production line Sunday.
The Pentagon’s projected price tag of $391.2 billion for a fleet of 2,443 aircraft is a 68 percent increase from the projection in 2001, as measured in current dollars.
The number of aircraft also is 409 fewer than called for in the original program.
Business, Pages 30 on 09/28/2013