An F-35 Lightning II takes off from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, in 2023. Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay $29.74 million to settle allegations of defective pricing on contracts for F-35 military aircraft, the Justice Department said on Feb. 6, 2025. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Defense giant Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay nearly $30 million to settle allegations that it failed to disclose accurate pricing data on contracts for its F-35 fighter jet.
The payment is in addition to more than $11 million the company has already paid the Pentagon for undisclosed cost and pricing data on some of the same contracts, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The government alleged that Lockheed Martin inflated pricing proposals submitted to the Defense Department between 2013 and 2015, resulting in five contract awards for the production or sustainment of the F-35.
It also alleged that the Maryland-based company knowingly withheld pricing data in violation of the Truth in Negotiations Act, legislation designed to safeguard the government from overcharging.
The government argued that if Lockheed Martin officials had provided accurate data, the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office would have awarded the contracts at lower prices, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The contractor agreed to pay $29.74 million to resolve the allegations on condition of not being found liable for wrongdoing.
The settlement comes amid various challenges facing the F-35 program, including production delays and soaring costs. The estimated full lifecycle cost — including development, production and sustainment — is about $485 billion.
The Pentagon’s latest annual weapons evaluations report, released last month, said quality defects from the F-35 production line “are still being discovered in the field.” Lockheed Martin argued that the report contained outdated information.
Elon Musk, whom President Donald Trump has appointed to identify government spending to slash, singled out the F-35 program in December, saying, “some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35” in an age of increasing drone use, Bloomberg reported.
The F-35 Lightning II is a stealth multirole fighter used by the U.S. and its allies. It is designed to perform a variety of missions — from air-to-air combat and ground strikes to intelligence gathering — by integrating advanced sensors, stealth capabilities and networked data sharing.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt, director of the F-35 Joint Program Office, said the aircraft remains a cornerstone of the U.S. modern defense strategy and that his office will continue to insist on honesty in all business transactions.
“The F-35 program is at the heart of our nation’s defense,” Schmidt said in Thursday’s statement. “We demand 100% accountability for every dollar spent on this program on behalf of U.S. taxpayers and international customers and taxpayers.”
