FORT WORTH, Texas – Lockheed Martin [LMT] predicts by 2019 it will have lowered the unit cost of the Air Force’s F-35A to about $85 million in 2019 dollars, according to a senior executive.

Lockheed Martin is working to lower the cost of the F-35. Photo: Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is working to lower the cost of the F-35. Photo: Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin F-35 Executive Vice President and General Manager Lorraine Martin said Friday the 2019 unit cost in nominal, or today’s, dollars would be about $75 million. This includes engine and mission systems. The company said it is prepared to start driving up production to help drive down unit costs.

“I think actually think, with some intention, we might able to do better and that’s what the team is working on now,” Martin told reporters here at a ceremony to recognize the completion of Lockheed Martin’s 100th F-35. “When we do that, we will have an aircraft price in 2019 for a fifth generation fighter that is less than any fourth generation fighter in the world. And that is our goal.”

A F135 engine, developed by United Technologies Corp.’s [UTX] Pratt & Whitney, would cost today between $10 million and $20 million, Lockheed Martin spokesman Mike Rein said. The 2019 unit price would be part of the company’s first full-rate production (FRP) contract.

Without the engine, the unit cost of a F-35A from the low rate initial production (LRIP) deal signed in November was $98 million.

The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC].