A BILLION HERE AND A BILLION THERE, AND PRETTY SOON YOU’RE TALKING REAL MONEY: Pentagon seeks at least 5 pct savings on Lockheed F-35 jet.

The Pentagon, under the direction of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, has been exploring how to cut the costs of its most expensive weapons program.

The deal for last year’s annual purchase contract, struck this February, put the standard takeoff and landing version of the jet at the lowest price ever, $94.6 million, a 7.3 percent reduction from the previous annual purchase price of $102 million.

The current negotiations are for a batch of about 130 planes. The talks could shave 5-7 percent, or $660 million, from the approximately 100 standard takeoff and landing “A-model” jets for the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. allies, the people said.

The F-35 comes in three configurations: the A-model; the B-model, which can handle short take-offs and vertical landings for the Marine Corps and the British navy; and the carrier-variant F-35C jets.

The number and type of jets in the deal as well as the timing for an agreement have not been finalized, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

The talks may be private, but the “people familiar with the talks” who spoke to Reuters went just public enough to put more pressure on Lockheed-Martin.