LRIP 10 includes the next eight aircraft for Australia. (Lockheed Martin)

The US Department of Defense and F-35 Lightning II prime contractor Lockheed Martin have reached an agreement on the next lot of aircraft, LRIP 10, which includes eight F-35A jets for Australia.

This lot, which includes 90 aircraft in total, 55 jets for the US and 35 for partners and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program customers, marks the first time that the price of the conventional take-off and landing variant is below US$100 million.

At US$94.6 million, the F-35A unit price for LRIP 10, which includes the aircraft, engine and fee, is 7.3 per cent lower than under the LRIP 9 contract.

“The LRIP 10 contract is a good and fair deal for the taxpayers, the US government, allies and industry,” said Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer. “We continue to work with industry to drive costs out of the program.”