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| US Navy Orders 3 New Variants of F-35 Test Fighter Aircraft Worth $320 Million |
Washington - The US Navy has ordered three new F-35 test aircraft from Lockheed Martin for $320 Million. The three F-35 test aircraft will replace older test aircraft, the US Department of Defense announced in a release.
“Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $320 million modification contract to provide non-repetitive engineering to support production of a new aeronautical science test aircraft, consisting of one F-35A, one F-35B, and one F-35C. ,” read a statement shared on Tuesday.
The three different F-35 test aircraft will be used as flight science test aircraft for the US Air Force, Marine Corps, US Navy and other participants in the F-35 program. Work on the contract is scheduled to take five years and is expected to be completed in December 2027.
As is known, the F-35 was developed by Lockheed Martin as a combined attack fighter with three different variants. This fifth-generation aircraft with stealth characteristics will replace the role of the F-16 and other fourth-generation fighter aircraft.
Not only used by the US, the F-35 is also exported to US-allied countries with full rights from the US to sell or terminate this program to a country. Turkey is an example of a country that has procured the F-35 but then canceled the program by Washington because Ankara bought the S-400 air defense system from Russia.