Pentagon advances $1.3 bn to Lockheed for biggest F-35 job

Lockheed spokesman Mark Johnson said the company appreciates actions taken to "ensure delivery of F-35's to our warfighter customers

Lockheed Martin received a $1.28-billion Pentagon down payment to continue production of the F-35 jet while negotiations continue on a contract valued as much as $7.19 billion for 90 aircraft, the biggest order yet.

The $1.28 billion released Wednesday under what’s known as an “undefinitised contract action” will bankroll continued assembly for jets that won’t be delivered until 2018, pay hard-to-maintain suppliers and correct deficiencies found in testing on earlier jets, the Defense Department said in a statement.

“With a complex production line and a dynamic supply chain, it was important to obligate funds” using the down payment process to prevent major delays, said Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the department’s F-35 program office. “We are confident that the finer terms” of the 10th contract “will be settled over the next few months.”

Lockheed spokesman Mark Johnson said in an e-mail that the company appreciates the actions taken to “ensure delivery of F-35’s to our warfighter customers.”

It was a contrast from the company’s angry response earlier this month when the Pentagon awarded a $6.1 billion final contract for the ninth production lot of 57 jets on its own terms after 18 months of inconclusive negotiations.

In a break from the praise that major contractors and the Pentagon usually lavish on each other, the company complained then that it was “not a mutually agreed-upon” contract and that “we are disappointed with the decision by the government to issue a unilateral contract action.”