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By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The Pentagon's plans to defersome orders for F-35 fighter jets over the next five yearsshould not have a significant impact on efforts to lower thejet's costs, said Jeff Babione, who manages the $391 billionprogram for Lockheed Martin Corp.
The U.S. Defense Department's fiscal 2017 budget planincludes plans to spend $56.3 billion for 404 F-35 fighter jetsover the next five years, deferring the purchase of about 24jets until after fiscal 2021.
Babione told reporters at the Air Force Association's annualAir Warfare Symposium in Orlando that the company and its keysuppliers were continuing broad-based efforts to lower the costof the new radar-evading warplane.
Given growing international orders, the small number of jetsto be deferred by the Pentagon was "not significant," he said.
Lockheed is continuing negotiations with the Pentagon's F-35program office about a ninth and tenth batch of jets, andexpects to reach an agreement in March, Babione said. That dealwould mean that the overall cost of the planes had been reducedby well over 60 percent since the program's start in 2001.
Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bodgan, who runs the F-35program for the Pentagon, told reporters earlier this month thathe expected to reach agreement in March on the two contracts,which will be worth a combined $15 billion.
Babione said it was taking longer than expected to finalizethe agreement largely due to the sheer size and complexity ofthe program, but the talks were "going well."
Babione said Lockheed could shave several billion dollarsoff the cost of the program through a multiyear block buyagreement with international partners, but details were stillbeing worked with interested countries and the United States.
Lockheed is building three models of the F-35 for the U.S.military and nine international customers - Britain, Australia,the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, Italy, Japan, Israel and SouthKorea. The Pentagon expects to spend $391 billion to develop theplane and buy 2,457 of the supersonic, stealthy new warplanes. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)