Lockheed Fighter’s Cost Forces Delay, Reduction

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is projected to cost $5.1 billion, or 17%, more than budgeted, forcing a one-year delay and a cut in the number of planes produced, according to Pentagon documents.

Two years into the program, the cost of developing what is to be the main fighter plane for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines has increased to $40.5 billion from about $35 billion, Comptroller Dov Zakheim said in a Dec. 22 Budget Decision Memorandum.

Meanwhile, Lockheed said that it has won a five-year, $423-million contract to outfit helicopter cockpits for the U.S. Navy.

Shares of Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed fell 61 cents to $50.09 on the New York Stock Exchange.