An oft-cited talking point for critics of the Lockheed Martin F-35 is simply to state the program’s official $1.68 trillion cost estimate, which is usually rounded up to a cleaner $1.7 trillion.

It is hoped the initiative will support a number of aerospace programs being pursued by India with support from British companies.

Following FMS approval, Japan is set to become the Raytheon-made munition’s first export customer.

The crash comes only a week after Hill AFB confirmed that an F-35A that was damaged in 2016 is now classed as a write-off. 

British intelligence-gathering flights over the Black Sea region were suspended following the incident on Sept. 29, which occurred in international airspace.

The U.S. Navy’s top officer is joining the call for the Pentagon to buy critical weapons in multiyear blocks as opposed to individual fiscal year allotments, saying the practice would give industry the demand signal and support needed to increase its production rates.

A report from Myanmar-based newspaper The Irrawady says that a Burmese group of pilots, technicians and weapons officers has traveled to China to begin training on the Guizhou Aviation Industry Corp-built lead-in jet trainer and light combat aircraft.

Leaders of Lockheed Martin, the top Pentagon provider by annual sales and a bellwether for the Western defense industry, told Wall Street on Oct. 18 that revenue will not grow again in earnest until 2024 when F-35 sustainment, PAC-3 missiles and CH-53K production should ramp up, plus classified work.