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WASHINGTON: Norway joined on Wednesday a U.S.-led group of countries agreeing to take part in the next phase of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 Joint Strike fighter, the costliest warplane acquisition to date.
In a ceremony in Oslo, Defense Minister Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen added her signature to a pact already signed by the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Britain and Turkey, the U.S. Defense Department said.
The United States alone expects to spend $276.5 billion to buy more than 2,000 F-35 aircraft.
The remaining co-development partners, Italy and Denmark, are expected to sign the production, sustainment and follow-on development pact in the near future, the Pentagon said.
The F-35, dubbed the Lightning II, is a supersonic, multi-role, radar-evading fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing warplanes. A test version flew for the first time on Dec. 15.
Three versions will be built: a conventional-takeoff-and-landing variant, an aircraft-carrier version and a short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing version.
Norway's contribution as of now in the first phase of the program is $92 million, the Pentagon said. Co-development partners will be able to buy the aircraft sooner than others, although signing the memorandum of understanding does not necessarily commit them to buying the aircraft.
