Lockheed Martin delivers 142 F-35 fighter jets; beats 2021 forecast

Lockheed Martin delivered a total of 142 F-35 fighter jets to the United States and its allies, three more than originally planned, the world’s largest defense contractor said on Monday.

The company was expected to deliver between 133 and 139 jets in 2021.

Last year, two new countries – Switzerland and Finland – selected Lockheed’s F-35 for their new fighter jet programs. The company added that Denmark received its first F-35 in 2021 and the Royal Netherlands Air Force became the eighth nation to declare their F-35 fleet ready for initial operational capability.

Finland in December said it planned to order 64 F-35 fighter jets with weapons systems in a $9.4 billion deal. Earlier last year, Switzerland had picked Lockheed’s F-35A Lightning II as its next-generation fighter jet.

In 2022, Lockheed plans to deliver 151 to 153 of the fighter aircraft, fewer than the 169 jets it had hoped to deliver. The weapons maker also said it was expecting to deliver 156 aircraft to the U.S. beginning 2023 and for the “foreseeable future”.

The US government is Lockheed’s biggest customer, accounting for three quarters of its sales last year.