No decisions have been made about whether to reduce spending on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as the program undergoes scrutiny over cost overruns and delays, the Pentagon said yesterday.
The Pentagon is due to submit its budget request for fiscal 2013 in February and is facing tighter spending outlook because of efforts to rein in the federal deficit.
Defense officials have said that all major acquisition programs will be subject to review under the current budget constraints.
“No decisions have been made with respect to anything on the budget,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said when asked about the F-35. He added that the Defense Department remains committed to the program but would not say whether it would be subjected to a lower production rate or funding levels.
“There may be issues regarding the F-35 program,” he said. “Any large weapons program generally has issues from time to time. And we are aware of certain issues with the F-35 program, but we believe it’s important to continue to invest in the program.”
“This is not about any one particular program,” he said. “We obviously have to look at large programs like F-35.”
The $382 billion JSF with Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the largest in Pentagon history.
The JSF program office has been looking for ways to reduce costs and recently held contentious negotiations with Lockheed Martin for the fifth lot of the aircraft under low-rate initial-production (LRIP).
The Pentagon wanted the defense firm to assume a greater burden for concurrency costs incurred by modifications that must be done to the aircraft during development and testing.
The JSF program office this week announced that the two sides had reached a tentative agreement for LRIP 5. The arrangement includes an agreement on a fixed-price type contract and a clause calling for the sharing of concurrency costs by the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin.