Washington, Jan 25: Lockheed Martin has won a $320 million US Navy modification contract to construct three new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to be used as flight science test aircraft to replace the current aging testing force, the Defense Department announced in a press release.

“Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company [of] Fort Worth, Texas is awarded a … $320 million … modification contract … to provide non-recurring engineering in support of the production of one F-35A, one F-35B, and one F-35C new flight science test aircraft,” the release said on Tuesday.The three new planes will replace aging flight science test aircraft for the US Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and other participants in the F-35 program, the release said.Three quarters of the work on the contract will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30%); El Segundo, California (25%) and Warton in the United Kingdom (20%), the Defense Department said. Work on the contract is scheduled to take five years and is expected to be completed by December 2027, the release added.The F-35 is the most expensive military system ever recorded and its overall cost rose in 2021 to $412 billion from $398 billion, a Defense Department report said in September 2022.