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By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp met its goal of delivering 45 F-35 fighter jets to the U.S.government and key allies in 2015, a 25 percent increase from2014 that brought the number of jets delivered to 154, thePentagon said on Monday.
Lockheed is on track to receive most associated performancefees, and marked a milestone for the $391 billion F-35 project,the Pentagon's largest arms program, as it prepared for a largeproduction increase in coming years.
"Meeting aircraft production goals is a critical steppingstone in demonstrating the program is ready for the expectedsignificant production ramp up," said Air Force LieutenantGeneral Chris Bogdan, who runs the F-35 program for thePentagon.
Late on Monday, the Pentagon said Lockheed had won acontract worth $1.17 billion to buy titanium and other materialsneeded to build an 11th batch of F-35 fighter jets.
Lockheed remained in negotiations with the Pentagon aboutthe next two batches of F-35 jets, a deal that could be worth$15 billion. The two sides had hoped to reach agreement beforeyear end, but have pushed the date to the first quarter, said sources familiar with the discussions.
Lockheed is developing and building three models of F-35jets for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, as well asfor Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Australia,Israel, Japan and South Korea.
Key suppliers to Lockheed are Northrop Grumman Corp and BAE Systems Plc. Pratt & Whitney, a unit of UnitedTechnologies Corp, builds the engines for the supersonicjets under a separate agreement with the government.
Pratt is nearing a deal with the F-35 program office for thenext two batches of jets, including 60 engines in the ninth setand 100 in the 10th, said Pratt spokesman Matthew Bates.
The jets delivered in 2015 included 26 F-35 A-model jets forthe U.S. Air Force, which now has 75 of the planes; two F-35Asfor Norway; and one F-35A for Italy, the F-35 program officesaid.
Lockheed also delivered eight F-35 B-model jets, which canland vertically, to the U.S Marine Corps, as well as four F-35C-model jets, which take off from aircraft carriers, to theMarines, and four F-35C jets to the U.S. Navy.
The latest deliveries capped a busy year for the F-35program. The U.S. Marine Corps declared an initial squadron ofjets ready for combat use. Also during the year, Lockheeddelivered the first F-35 jet from Italy's final assembly andcheckout facility to the Italian military.
The Italian plant, managed by Finmeccanica SpA,will build most of the 90 jets expected to be ordered by Japan,and some of the 37 jets to be ordered by the Netherlands.
Earlier this month, the wings, fuselage and tails of thefirst Japanese-built F-35 were joined together for the firsttime at a facility in Nagoya, Japan. The assembly of theaircraft, designated AX-5, will be completed in 2017.
Lockheed is building the first four F-35As for Japan in FortWorth, Texas, while the remaining 38 ordered by Japan will beassembled in Japan. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)