The Defense Department‘s proposed fiscal 2017 budget would fund procurement of Lockheed Martin-built F-35 fighter planes for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps over the next five fiscal years, Reuters reported Friday.
Andrea Shalal writes the Air Force has requested money to purchase up to 243 F-35s through fiscal 2021.
The military branch plans to defer orders for about 45 jets in order to finance its Long Range Strike Bomber development and KC-46A tanker aircraft programs, Shalal reports.
The Navy and Marine Corps seek to buy as many as 97 F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing planes as well as 64 carrier-based F-35Cs, the report said.