Proposed US Defense Budget Includes $10.6Bln for F-35 Joint Strike Fighters

Pentagon said in a press release that Fiscal Year 2016 request includes $10.6 billion funding to purchase 57 Joint Strike Fighters.

WASHINGTON, (Sputnik) — The proposed $585 billion Defense Department budget includes $10.6 billion in funding for the procurement of 57 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, a program acquisition document released by the Defense Department (DOD) said.

“The FY [Fiscal Year] 2016 request includes funding to purchase 57 Joint Strike Fighters ($10.6 billion),” the DOD said in a press release on Monday.

DOD said it wants to procure the three variants of F-35, including 44 Conventional Take Off and Landing F-35s for the Air Force, 9 Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing F-35s for the Marine Corps, and 4 Carrier variant F-35s for the Navy, the document read.

The budget also funds continuing development of the F-35s air system, engine propulsion, testing and follow-on development, according to the DOD.

The F-35 is a single-seat, single-engine strike fighter with stealth technology. The nearly $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program is largely funded by the United States, which plans to buy 2,443 F-35s, according to the aircraft producer Lockheed Martin.

The F-35's development has been beset by delays, cost overruns and technical problems and has been widely criticized for being wasteful.