Lockheed Martin is paying back the Pentagon about five years worth of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) award fees totaling $265 million the company erroneously charged because of a computer glitch in its billing system, company spokesman Thomas Jurkowsky told Aviation Week's Michael Fabey today.

Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will have a complete article on the announcement Aug. 10.

The company expects to repay the government “within several days” the overpaid award fees plus interest that’s still being determined, Jurkowsky said.

Lockheed discovered the award fee miscalculation - not the Defense Department. "They did not cause the error," Jurkowsky says. "This is our fault."

Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced efforts to crack down on award fees - but only after years of complaints and reports by watchdogs and federal investigators, as well as several new proposals piling up on the now Democratically controlled Capitol Hill that could reign in such profit payments to industry.