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The article focuses on a report from the 2008 Farnborough air show in Great Britain, which identified key themes and issues that will be on the agendas of industry executives, government officials and senior military leaders. As the F-35 testing program ramps in the fall of 2008, Lockheed Martin and Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) partner nations are in the midst of a complicated situation to improve the pricing of the fighter before the Defense Department steps in with a stabilizing multiyear purchase beginning in 2014.

The article reports that Lockheed Martin's initial efforts to entice international participants into early commitments to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) purchases appear faltering, as key partners hold off on final decisions. The company has been trying to obtain early firm commitments from program participants but Great Britain, the only level one partner in the program, will not pronounce aircraft numbers until several years into the next decade, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry.