Deal reached on next F-35 batch

Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon reached agreement on a contract worth about $4 billion for an eighth batch of 43 F-35 fighters. It will lower the cost of the plane by about 3 percent and includes jets to be built for the U.S. military, Britain and other U.S. allies. The cost of the U.S. Air Force model, 27 of the 43 aircraft, will go down nearly 4 percent. The deal was expected earlier, but talks slowed after a June engine failure on an F-35 taking off from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Source: Reuters, 10/23/14) Gulf Coast note: Eglin in Northwest Florida is home of the F-35 integrated training center and has the largest F-35 fleet.