F-35A costs to fall below $US 80 million a unit in 2023.

Lockheed Martin officials expect to negociate their next multiyear F-35 contract with the Joint Program Office in 2022, lowering the F-35A price to less than $US 80 million per unit.

F-35 Lightning II aircraft (Picture source : Lockheed Martin)

Marilyn Hewson, chief executive of Lockheed Martin, said during a conference : "That’s our target, to continue to drive the unit cost down (...) And we won’t stop there, we will always be looking at ways that we can take the cost down in the program as it continues to mature and grows."

Nowadays, according to Lockheed Martin, a F-35A Lightning II costs $US 89 million while the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant costs $US 115 million and the F-35C carrier variant costs $US 107 million.

Lockheed Martin plans to deliver 131 fighters this year, compared to the 91 F-35 fighters delivered in 2018. Within two years, company officials expect to deliver more than 161 fighters per year. This increasing of the quantities to be produced is driven by the ability to lock in lower prices for large quantities of raw materials and components and the enhancement of the efficiencies in the production process of Lockheed Martin.