Lockheed’s F-35 gets South Korea nod, but momentum slower than hoped

News that South Korea expects to spend 7.34 trillion won ($6.79 billion) for 40 F-35s is a plus for Lockheed, said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group, but the company needs more orders to help drive down the unit cost of the new warplanes. “The risk is that it stays too expensive to order in large quantities, and the lack of large quantities means that it stays too expensive,” he said.