The Pentagon is “pleased” with the “emerging appearance of stability” among the F-35’s supplier teams, according to a spokesman.
Defense Department spokesman George Little told reporters during a briefing recently that this “stability” among the supplier teams at Lockheed Martin [LMT], the F-35’s prime contractor, and Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX], is progress.
“Building test aircraft has given way now to beginning deliveries of low-rate initial production jets,” Little said. “And that’s the sign of progress.”
Little’s comments came days after the Pentagon announced the cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program rose to $395.7 billion, or by 4.3 percent, last year as the most expensive program in the Pentagon’s history continues to struggle with cost overruns and delays. The Pentagon attributed the increase to inflation, a slowed production ramp rate and fewer international sales.
The revised figure assumes the Pentagon will stick with plans to buy 2,443 of the F-35 under the three variants for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.
According to Joe DellaVedova, spokesman for the JSF program office, Lockheed Martin has delivered, and the U.S. government accepted, a total of 11 LRIP F-35s. He said the first two, both Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL), were delivered in May 2011 and are at Edwards AFB, Calif., and the other nine F-35s, (six CTOLs and three Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL)) , are at Eglin AFB, Fla.
DellaVedova said LRIP aircraft are projected to be delivered into the 2016-18 timeframe.
Little said it has been a priority of Defense Secretary Michael Donley to contain costs and keep progressing on the fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
“We believe we’re making significant strides on the F-35,” Little said. “Yes, there have been issues in the past with respect to development and testing and with respect to cost. And it’s been a priority of this secretary and his leadership team to advance development and testing as well as control costs. And we believe we’re doing that.
“We continue to address the issue of the large overlap of testing and production and, you know, the concurrency issue,” Little said. “Making critical changes to the aircraft after accepting the cost burden, you know, for instance, that is challenging.”
Little wouldn’t comment on reports that Canada was reconsidering its participation in the F-35 program due to possible “under-assumption” of potential costs, but reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to the program.
“What I can say is that we are strongly committed to the F-35,” he said. “We remain focused on completing development and testing so that we can put the aircraft in service.”