Lockheed Martin gets $34B order for F-35 fighter jets (on sale)
Could I get a 478-pack of F-35s?... The procurement person for the US government just placed the biggest order ever for military-grade fighter jets. Lockheed Martin won the deal. The Defense Department's pumped about the savings: Each $71M jet is 12.7% less than the last order — but Wall Street expected the result, barely budging Lockheed's stock on the news.
This thing is Air Force Fancy... The stealth F-35 is nearly invisible to the enemy and hits Mach 1.6 speed (a smooth 1,227 MPH). The Department of Defense calls it the “world’s most advanced, lethal, interoperable aircraft ever developed.” Most of the manufacturing happens in Texas, but they’re only flown by the US and 12 allies. Now Lockheed's gotta deliver them.
Lockheed Martin is in the business of war — and politics... Its core customers are governments treating themselves to battle machines. On the one hand, it's pretty much the only producer of its products... but there's pretty much just one buyer. So negotiations on price are tricky. And Lockheed investors may want an international relations degree to handle things like Turkey — geopolitical drama there may force Lockheed to find a new supplier for the nearly 1,000 Turkish-made parts in the F-35 program.