Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, head of the F-35 joint program office, plans to negotiate a block buy for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with allied nations, Defense News reported Friday.
Aaron Mehta writes Lockheed Martin is set to submit a proposal for F-35 low-rate initial production lots 9 and 10 sometime between January and February 2015 before the negotiation rounds begin.
Bogdan also wants to develop a new procurement model for LRIP 11, according to the report.
“By next summer we will put out a request for proposal on LRIP 11 jets. That RFP will ask Lockheed to do a block buy for our partners,” Bogdan told reporters.
The U.S. military plans to procure 34 planes in LRIP 9, 55 planes in LRIP 10 and 68 planes in LRIP 11, Mehta reports.
