Price of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to rise, Lockheed Martin says

A U.S. plan to drag out purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet would increase "somewhat" the total cost paid by the United States and international allies, Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday.

"It will raise the overall average cost of the total procurement of all the airplanes bought," said Tom Burbage, head of Lockheed Martin's F-35 program, a day after the Pentagon said it would slow procurement of the fledgling radarevading aircraft.

Burbage told Reuters the average cost would "go up somewhat" but declined to quantify the effect. "It just changes the dynamics of the cost equation," he said.

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