Two signatures. 296 stealth fighters. $24.3 billion. In a single deal, the F-35 program locked in the largest batch of Lightning IIs it has ever agreed to build at once.
The contract covers Lots 18 and 19 — production runs split evenly at 148 jets apiece — and the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin finalized it at the end of September 2025. The paperwork is dry. The number is not: 296 fifth-generation fighters, for the United States and a long list of allies, now rolling down the line in Fort Worth with deliveries running through 2028.
It is the clearest sign yet that, whatever the program’s critics say about cost and complexity, the F-35 has become the default fighter of the Western world — ordered by the hundred.
| Deal | F-35 Lots 18 & 19 |
| Aircraft | 296 F-35s (148 per lot) |
| Value | ~$24.3 billion (airframes) |
| Finalized | 29 September 2025, by the F-35 Joint Program Office & Lockheed Martin |
| Unit cost | ~$82.4M average airframe (engine contracted separately) |
| Deliveries | Begin 2026, built at Fort Worth, Texas |
One deal, 296 jets
The headline figure — roughly $24.3 billion — came together in two pieces. In December 2024 the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin struck an $11.8 billion agreement for Lot 18. Then, on 29 September 2025, a further $12.5 billion contract modification nailed down the final details of Lot 18 and added the full scope of Lot 19. Put the two lots side by side and you get 296 aircraft split evenly down the middle.
These are not all bound for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. The F-35 is a multinational program, and the Lot 18–19 jets are spread across American services, partner nations that helped build the aircraft, and foreign customers buying through the U.S. government. It is, in effect, a single production order feeding a dozen air forces at once.
Holding the line on cost
Every F-35 headline eventually circles back to money, and this one is no different. The average airframe across all three variants and all customers works out to about $82.4 million — a figure that does not include the F135 engine, which Pratt & Whitney builds under a separate contract and the government supplies as furnished equipment.
What the program office wants noticed is that the per-jet price barely moved, even after years of global inflation since the previous Lot 15–17 deal.
Built by the mile
All 296 will come out of the same place: Lockheed Martin’s plant in Fort Worth, Texas, where the main assembly building stretches more than a mile end to end and can hold well over a hundred jets in various stages of construction at once. A single F-35 takes roughly a year and a half to go from bare bulkhead to finished fighter.
Two lots. 296 jets. One very long building in Texas. Whatever comes next for the sixth-generation fighters now in development, the F-35 line is not slowing down — it is running at the biggest single order of its life.
Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine; Breaking Defense; FlightGlobal; F-35 Joint Program Office / Lockheed Martin.
Related Questions
What is the F-35 Lightning II?
The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine fifth-generation stealth multirole fighter built by Lockheed Martin. It comes in three variants covering conventional runways, short-takeoff/vertical-landing, and carrier operations. It has become the default fighter of much of the Western world, ordered by the hundred for the United States and allied air forces.
How much does an F-35 cost?
In the Lots 18-19 contract finalized in September 2025, the average F-35 airframe worked out to about $82.4 million. That figure spans all three variants but excludes the F135 engine, which Pratt & Whitney builds under a separate contract and the government supplies as furnished equipment.
What was the largest single F-35 order?
The largest single F-35 batch is the Lots 18 and 19 deal: 296 aircraft, split evenly at 148 jets per lot, worth roughly $24.3 billion for the airframes. Finalized on 29 September 2025 between the F-35 Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin, it is the biggest production order the program has agreed at once.
Who makes the F-35 and where is it built?
Lockheed Martin builds the F-35 on a mile-long assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, where U.S. and partner-nation flags hang over the floor. Partner nations manufacture components, and deliveries from the Lots 18-19 order run through 2028. The U.S. Navy is separately weighing its next-generation carrier fighter.
What are the three F-35 variants?
The F-35 comes in three variants: the F-35A for conventional takeoff and landing, the F-35B with short-takeoff and vertical-landing capability for amphibious ships and short strips, and the F-35C with larger wings and a tailhook for aircraft-carrier operations. All three share the same stealth airframe and sensor suite.
Which countries operate the F-35?
The F-35 serves the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps plus a long list of allies, including partner nations that helped build the aircraft and foreign customers buying through the U.S. government. A single production order effectively feeds a dozen air forces at once, making it the most widely adopted Western fighter.
Why is the F-35 called a fifth-generation fighter?
Fifth-generation describes fighters that combine stealth, advanced sensor fusion, networked data-sharing and integrated avionics. The F-35 embodies all of these, which is why it has displaced older jets across NATO. For scale, see how China is racing to field the most stealth fighters.
What engine powers the F-35?
Every F-35 variant is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney F135 afterburning turbofan, built under a contract separate from the airframe. Because the government supplies the engine as furnished equipment, quoted per-jet airframe prices, about $82.4 million in the 2025 deal, do not include it.
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