US slashes in half its request for Lockheed’s F-35 fighter jets, Bloomberg News reports

(Reuters) -The Pentagon is scaling back in half its request to Congress for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 jets, Bloomberg on News reported on Tuesday.

A U.S. Defense Department procurement request document sent to Capitol Hill this week asked for 24 of the planes, down from 48 that was forecast last year, the report said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Lockheed Martin and the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.

(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru)