Here are the programs that made the biggest news over the past week:
Lockheed, suppliers meet over F-35 costs — With international partners wavering in their support of the F-35 — although appearing to agree they have little other choice in the matter — Lockheed Martin has met with 90 key suppliers to figure out ways to drive out cost in operating and maintaining the aircraft, according to
Reuters. Described as an early step in mapping out specific measures, the company clearly wants to get away from the eye-popping $1 trillion figure cited as the total cost of the F-35 to keep the aircraft operational throughout their service lives (on top of the $400 billion to buy the entire fleet). However, with setbacks continuing for the program — a problem with its F135 engine recently caused the temporary grounding of the entire fleet — the program may be fortunate simply to keep the price tag from rising further. Nevertheless, the Lockheed and some key suppliers are taking steps to do what they can to tackle costs, announcing last month they would spend $170 million over the next two years to reduce the aircraft’s price tag. Read more F-35 analysis >>>
Future SSBN supplier base a growing concern — The Ohio-class replacement submarine might seem like a long way off, but the time has come to start ramping up the supplier base, we reported last week. The Navy is seven years away from the scheduled start of construction for the first of a new fleet of ballistic missile submarines, but the service is already starting to deal with a supplier base that has shrunk from 12,000 companies to just 2,000 who are capable of supplying nuclear-powered subs. The supplier base is currently kept running by the construction of two Virginia-class attack subs per year, but the Ohio replacement will be much larger and require more parts, which could be a challenge for the Navy to guarantee that such specialized labor will be available when needed. An official at Electric Boat told us that the company has already been engaging with the supplier base to make sure they will be ready to support the construction of Ohio replacement subs in addition to the Virginia-class program — something that will be “tough on the supplier base,” the official noted. Read more Ohio-class analysis >>>
China gives P-8 chilly reception — The arrival of the P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft has been a welcome one for a Navy looking for assets that can patrol the vast reaches of the Pacific, but China appears less enthused: the Pentagon claims a Chinese fighter recently came dangerously close to a P-8 on patrol, drawing condemnation from U.S. leadership and denials from China, we noted in Defense Watch. The incident indicates that the P-8 could be on the front lines of growing tensions between China and the United States as the latter’s presence grows in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s not an unprecedented confrontation: in April 2001, a Chinese J-8 fighter collided with a Navy EP-3E spy plane — a version of the P-3, the P-8’s predecessor — resulting in an international incident where the Chiense detained the U.S. crew for 10 days before the two sides made up. Read more P-8 analysis >>>
At 60 years old, C-130 still going strong — The C-130 is now 60 years old, having been created in response to needs raised during the Korean War, serving during the Vietnam War, and becoming a workhorse in the Gulf War and the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin has delivered 2,400 aircraft to 70 countries over that time period, according to Fox News, with more than half those planes still in operation. Unlike most programs of its age, the Air Force plans to keep the C-130 around for a while (although it is examining a replacement in the coming decades): purchases of the aircraft are scheduled to continue throughout the Future Years Defense Plan, and Congress has pushed the service to fund an Avionics Modnerization Program (AMP) to keep the aircraft viable for the foreseeable future. Read more C-130 analysis >>>