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Air Force

ACC Commander Not Optimistic About Reducing F-35 Cost Per Flying Hour to $25,000

Frank Wolfe

Friday, February 26th, 2021

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ACC Commander Not Optimistic About Reducing F-35 Cost Per Flying Hour to $25,000

Five F-35A Lightning II fighter jets assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, sit on the flight line during Red Flag 21-1, at Nellis AFB, Nev. on Feb. 8. (U.S. Air Force Photo)

Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly, the head of Air Combat Command (ACC), said on Feb. 26 that he is not confident that the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 will reach the $25,000 cost-per-flying hour goal by 2025. "In terms of confidence level of getting to $25,000 by 2025, I'm not brimming with confidence," he told reporters during the Air Force Association 2021 virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium. In the past two years, Pentagon officials, including those from the Cost Assessment and Program…

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