The Pentagon now believes the redevelopment costs for the first five production lots of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will cost $500 million less than a previous projection, according to a recent report submitted to Congress.
The latest revision applies to 90 aircraft and says the total redevelopment, or “concurrency,” costs are expected to come in at $1.2 billion compared to a September $1.7 billion-estimate sent to lawmakers, according to the May report. Congress began mandating the semi-annual concurrency reports last year.
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| The Pentagon has seen a recent dip in F-35 costs. Photo by Lockheed Martin. |
Concurrency costs are associated with problems that arise during the early production of the F-35s and require re-engineering and retrofitting. The concurrency costs have contributed to a massive rise in the price tag of the controversial program, which is also plagued by delays and has been subjected to sharp congressional criticism and some outright calls for cancellation.
The Pentagon last month said the procurement of 2,443 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps will cost taxpayers $391.2 billion, a slight decrease from an earlier estimate of $395.7 billion. The problems with the high-profile program have forced Pentagon officials to restructure it by pushing back yearly production quantities.
The Pentagon estimates that concurrency costs on the next five production lots will continue to decline and fall by $320 million to $540 million, with concurrency expected to be at $50 million by the 10th low-rate initial-production (LRIP) phase that begins in about five years. Those five lots include a total of 199 aircraft, according to the report.
The report in part attributed the drop in concurrency costs to a clause in the LRIP 5 contract that requires prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] to cover 50 percent, pressuring the industry giant to better perform and more rapidly insert design changes into production.
“This concurrency cost sharing is intended to motivate Lockheed Martin to put concurrency changes into production as quickly as possible in order to avoid cost sharing and will continue to be implemented in future LRIP contracts,” the report said.
The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin formalized the $3.8 billion LRIP 5 contract in December for 32 of the advanced stealth fighters.
Despite the persistent high cost of the beleaguered F-35 program, any decrease is good news for the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin.
“Lockheed Martin is pleased with the more than $500 million reduction in concurrency cost over the first five production lot contracts of the F-35 Lightning II,” company spokeswoman Laura Siebert said. “Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have worked together to develop a method of projecting the cost of concurrency for the program. We will continue to work with the JPO to implement further cost saving measures, which will result in decreases in total program costs.”
Earlier this month the Pentagon, under pressure from Congress, announced the initial operational capability timeframes for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps JSF variants. The Marine Corps F-35B, which is capable of short-takeoffs and vertical landings for operations on amphibious ships, will declare IOC in December 2015, followed one year later by the Air Force’s F-35A conventional takeoff and landing version. The Navy’s aircraft carrier variant, the F-35C, is scheduled for IOC in early 2019.