Trump helps US military buy cheap F-35 fighters

Defense company Lockheed Martin announced today that it has reached an agreement to sell 90 new F-35 fighters to the US Department of Defense for $8.5 billion, the lowest price ever.

F-35C fighter jet lands on US aircraft carrier. Photo: US Navy

Lockheed Martin credited US President Donald Trump with helping "drive negotiations" and "focus on cutting costs," according to Reuters.

The contract for the 10th batch of F-35 stealth fighters will bring the price of each aircraft below $95 million for the first time, compared to $102 million for previous production batches. This will help the US Department of Defense save a total of $728 million.

The amount is even larger than the $600 million that President Trump once claimed he had saved from the F-35 program.

Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, the F-35 program officer, praised the latest deal as making sense for "taxpayers, the US government, our allies and industry."

The 10th batch of F-35s includes 55 for the US military and another 35 for international partners and customers.

According to VNE