Posted on 07/11/2010 10:02:18 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The US armed services will acquire more than 75% of all F-35s built, under current plans, with their requirements covering a "programme of record" for a combined 2,443 aircraft across the design's three variants.
The exact numbers to be bought will doubtless change over the next few years, but Lockheed Martin cites long-used totals of 1,763 conventional take-off and landing F-35A Lightning IIs for the US Air Force, and 680 aircraft for the US Navy and Marine Corps. These will be split between the F-35C carrier variant and short take-off and vertical landing F-35B, respectively.
Lockheed's eight international partners for the JSF programme's system development and demonstration phase - Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and the UK - have identified shared requirements for another 738. However, the UK's ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review could affect its aspirations to buy 138 F-35Bs for the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, and political instability in the Netherlands earlier this year also saw doubts emerge over the nation's long-term commitment to the project.
Elsewhere, Australia's plans for a fleet of 100 F-35As will be influenced by its thinking on whether to retain or replace its newly fielded Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets.
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
I will be surprised if those numbers hold up. Obama will try to eliminate most of those to close the deficit. Fighter planes = Bad; Giving his base $$ to do absolutely nothing = Good.
That and I doubt that there are any of the foreign orders won’t also take a hit.
Anybody want to make an over/under bet of 1,000 aircraft?
I’ll go for under.
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