The Air Force and Lockheed Martin have signed an agreement to convert the current J model multi-year, commercial item contract to a traditional military procurement contract. The service had purchased 23 aircraft under the previous contract and plans to buy 39 more over the next three years under the new deal. USAF gets to review pricing on the first 23 and recoup any overpayment once it settles on a “final definitized price.” Air Force officials say the final price will not be more than previously paid, which they said was $66.5 million per aircraft.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…