LM receives F-35 order

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 4 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has received a contract modification from the U.S. Defense Department to produced F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft.

U.S. company Lockheed Martin was awarded a $2.1 billion contract modification for the third lot of a low-rate initial production of F-35 Lightning II. Under the contract modification, Lockheed Martin will produce 17 of its F-35 Lightning II, a supersonic, multi-role stealth aircraft.

Officials say the deal includes orders from England for two F-35 operational test aircraft and an order from the Netherlands for one aircraft.

"As we move more deeply into F-35 production, we are seeing the steady increases in quality and efficiency that track to our target production rate of one aircraft per working day in the 2015 time frame," Dan Crowley, Lockheed Martin executive vice president and F-35 program general manager, said in a statement.