Lockheed Martin Wins $28.7Mln for F-35 Retrofitting Kits, Services - Pentagon

US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin won nearly $29 million to provide retrofit kits and services to modify the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, the Defense Department said in a press release.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Estimates for the total cost of the F-35 initiative over its lifetime runs as high as $1 trillion, making it the department’s most expensive acquisition program, the Government Accountability Office reported last year.

"Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company [of] Fort Worth, Texas is being awarded $28,784,100… for supplies and services in support of the F-35 Lightning II milestone event capabilities, including retrofit modification kits," the release stated on Monday.

The kits will be supplied to F-35s operated by the US Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-US participants in the program, the Defense Department added.

The GAO also said the F-35 program is $200 billion over budget and will require acquisition funding of $12.7 billion a year, on average, through 2038.