The deal for last year’s annual purchase contract, struck this February, put the standard takeoff and landing version of the jet at the lowest price ever, $94.6 million, a 7.3 percent reduction from the previous annual purchase price of $102 million.
The current negotiations are for a batch of about 130 planes. The talks could shave 5-7 percent, or $660 million, from the approximately 100 standard takeoff and landing “A-model” jets for the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. allies. They are trying to get the price down to about $90 million. The total price will be about $11-12 billion for the 130 plane f35 order.
Trimming relatively small amounts of the initial price will likely end up having Lockheed make up for it in operations and maintenance contracts.
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