The Pentagon says it had awarded Lockheed Martin Corp a contract valued at $4.7 billion for an eighth batch of F-35 fighter jets that lowered the average price per jet by 3.5 percent from the last contract, and 57 percent from the first batch, Reuters reported. The Pentagon’s F-35 program office said the deal includes 29 jets for the United States and 14 for five other countries: Israel, Japan, Norway, Britain and Italy. Once production of those jets is completed, more than 200 F-35s will be in operation by eight countries, according to the office that runs the $399 billion F-35 program for the Pentagon.
