The Navy on Monday awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] an $862 million contract modification exercising options to procure 14 Lot 14 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, including redirected aircraft originally planned for Turkey.
The award is divided into eight Lot 14 F-35As as “repositioned aircraft as a result of the Republic of Turkey’s removal from the F-35 program” and six Lot 14 F-35As for the U.S. Air Force.
The announcement noted the award also established undefinitized line items that provide recurring engineering in support of modifying the eight repositioned F-35s “to a full operationally capable F-35A Air Force configuration.”
Work will largely occur in Fort Worth, Texas and El Segundo, Calif. and is expected to be finished by May 2026.
The Navy said $849 million in fiscal year 2020 Air Force aircraft procurement funds was obligated at the time of award, with none set to expire at the end of this fiscal year.
Last year, the Trump administration officially announced Turkey was being removed from the F-35 program after it accepted the Russian-built S-400 air defense system (Defense Daily, July 17, 2019).
That decision meant DoD would spend up to $600 million to find alternative sources for Turkish-made parts and Turkey was no longer going to receive over 100 F-35s it had planned to buy.