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The cost of maintaining and repairing the fleet of U.S. F-35s has been set at $1 trillion. But facing increasing fiscal pressure, Congress is asking manufacturer Lockheed Martin to find a cheaper way. WSJ's Nathan Hodge reports from Washington. A new Pentagon forecast showing the total cost of owning and operating a fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters topping $1 trillion over more than 50 years has caused a case of sticker shock in Washington. And that price tag doesn't even include the $385 billion the Defense Department will spend to purchase 2,500 of the stealthy planes through 2035. During...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The cost of building the F-35 fighter jet, set to replace a large part of the US warplane fleet, is "unaffordable" in its current version and must be reviewed, the Pentagon's top acquisition official said Thursday. "Over the lifetime of this program, the decade or so, the per-aircraft cost of the 2,443 aircraft we want has doubled in real terms," said Ashton Carter, the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. "That's our forecast for how much the aircraft's going to cost. "Said differently, that's what it's going to cost if we keep doing what...

Japan may drop F-35 from shortlist of next mainstay fighter -Kyodo May 20 (Reuters) - Japan may drop the F-35 stealth fighter from a shortlist for the country's next generation fighter due to a sharp delay in the plane's development plan, Kyodo agency reported on Friday citing diplomatic and defense sources. The operational test of the radar-evading F-35 -- being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp and Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway -- is not expected to begin until 2017 and this would not satisfy Japan's desire to receive delivery of the next fighter by March that...

McCain urges U.S. to think about F-35 alternatives May 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain suggested Thursday that the Defense Department mull possible alternatives to Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 fighter program if its rising costs could not be contained. McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, referred to the program as "incredibly troubled" and a "train wreck." He said Lockheed has done an "abysmal job" at containing cost overruns and urged that the

Navy will not get fleet of US joint strike fighters until 2023, three years after carrier due to enter service. The Ministry of Defence has still not decided how many planes should be assigned to the navy's long-delayed and increasingly expensive aircraft carrier programme, but whatever the number they will not be available for more than a decade, it has emerged. Confusion over the carrier project was compounded on Friday when the MoD said in its "business plan" that the navy will not get its fleet of US joint strike fighters (JSFs) until 2023, three years after HMS Prince of...

F-35A may need mod's to fix range shortfall By Stephen Trimble A new internal report predicts the Lockheed Martin F-35A conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) variant is falling short on a key performance requirement, forcing programme officials to consider a range of aircraft modifications to fix the problem. Combat radius, the maximum distance of an out-bound leg with a full load of weapons and fuel, has dropped to 1,080.4km (584nm) for the F-35A, according to a leaked copy of the 2010 F-35 selection acquisition report (SAR). That falls slightly below the specification for a minimum combat radius of 1,091km, one...

Israel sticks to F-35 despite possible lag to 2018 Israel sticks to F-35 despite possible lag to 2018 09 May 2011 11:30 Source: reuters // Reuters JERUSALEM, May 9 (Reuters) - Israel may get its first F-35 warplanes, seen as a bulwark against arch-enemy Iran, from the United States only in 2018 due to production delays, an Israeli newspaper said on Monday. But the Haaretz daily said Israel is unlikely to buy jets from a rival American manufacturer as a stop-gap. Israel bought around 20 of the radar-evading Lockheed Martin Corp F-35s, along with ancillary equipment, for $2.75 billion last...

Boeing engineers: We should have won F-35 fighter contract Steve Wilhelm Staff Writer Email: swilhelm@bizjournals.com Many Boeing engineers still grumble that Boeing’s design for the joint strike fighter, not Lockheed Martin Corp.’s, should have won the Air Force contract a decade ago to build the aircraft now known as the F-35. Lockheed Martin’s October 2001 win cemented its lead as builder of the nation’s most numerous next-generation fighter. Then touted as a $200 billion contract for 3,000 aircraft, the competition carried even more weight than the just-concluded fight over the Air Force tanker, which Boeing (NYSE: BA) did win. The...

With F-35 delay, IAF looking at purchase of used F-15s By YAAKOV KATZ 13/04/2011 Delivery of Joint Strike Fighter only expected in 2018, air force considers buying used squadron from US, upgrading older jets. Fearing major delays to the Joint Strike Fighter, the IAF is exploring whether to purchase a used squadron of F-15 fighter jets from the US Air Force, as it faces a possible drop in its number of combat aircraft. Israel decided to purchase a squadron of 20 F-35 stealth fifth-generation JSFs, which are made by Lockheed Martin, last year in a massive $2.75 billion deal, to...

Air force eyes 18 more Super Hornets as delays dog our new fighter EXCLUSIVE Brendan Nicholson, Defence editor DEVELOPMENT of the revolutionary Joint Strike Fighter, intended to provide Australia's air defence through this century, is running well behind schedule and the RAAF may need to buy 18 more Super Hornets for $1.5 billion to fill the gap. Australian defence officials head for the US this week for an update from Lockheed Martin Corporation, which is developing the stealthy, multi-role JSF, now named the F-35 Lightning II. The Australian understands they will raise serious concerns about delays in the project and...

The U.S. Defense Department ordered GE and Rolls-Royce to stop production on a second engine for the F-35 joint strike fighter Thursday. The government said they want them to wait until the fiscal 2012 budget is complete and there is a better direction of how the project will look. Hundreds of employees in Indiana are directly tied to the project. Rolls-Royce is the city`s second largest manufacturer behind Eli Lilly. In a statement from the fighter engine team they said they are "disappointed with the U.S. Department of Defense decision which goes against the precedent to continue funding for this...

JSF Cost Predictions Rattle Foreign Customers By David A. Fulghum, Graham Warwick, Robert Wall, Alon Ben-David Washington, Washington, London, Tel Aviv Customers for Lockheed-Martin’s stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—among them Canada, Israel, Britain and Australia—are shifting their mood from anxiety to paranoia over increasingly unpredictable costs. Foreign analysts now expect JSF prices to significantly exceed even the latest Pentagon estimate, putting government officials in fiscal and political jeopardy as they try to craft a rational purchase plan for the fifth-generation warplane. Adding new concern was congressional testimony by Lt. Gen. Mark Shackleford, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the...

A supremely well-trained pilot fully regains control of his $70 million F-35 joint strike force fighter after a problematic vertical take-off attempt. It appears that the afterburner kicked in while still vectored for vertical takeoff. Lockheed would call this a “software malfunction” and do a little more “regressive testing”. This is a good demonstration of power-to-weight ratio of this aircraft! And talk about stability control. This is an unbelievable piece of flying and the pilot deserves a Medal for saving a 70 Million Dollar Aircraft!

Here at Aero India 2011, Eurofighter has showcased a new naval variant of the Eurofighter Typhoon and has offered it to the Indian Navy. The Eurofighter has also been pitching hard for the Indian Air Force Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition and roped in the Defence Minister of United Kingdom Dr. Liam Fox to strongly push the deal. In a press briefing at the Aero India media center, he spoke highly of the Eurofighter's bid for M-MRCA competition and termed the offering as the best bet on the table. Answering a question of the high price of the Erofighter...

Shoot me, before the pain returns, because the Great Engine War of Words (GEWW) is revving up again. Next week the Pentagon will release its FY2012 budget request, which likely won't contain money for the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine, and Congress will take up the stalled FY2011 budget, which may or may not end up with money in it for the F136. In a bid to get out ahead, Pratt & Whitney held a media roundtable in Washington today (Feb 10). The first item of news was that Pratt has a "handshake" with the JSF program office on the...

“I think we have succumbed on the F-35 program to adding too many things too quickly,” says a veteran Pentagon program manager. Moreover, the Joint Strike Fighter’s problems have been compounded because the development effort was launched without a complete test plan. Paul Kaminski, speaking as a private citizen, picked out three aircraft programs – the F-16, the F-117 and the F-35, all products of Lockheed Martin – to show how some programs function smoothly, others become delayed and some are repaired along the way. He is CEO of Technovation, Inc., a former under sec. of defense for acquisition and...

Pratt & Whitney has reached an informal agreement with government officials to slash 16% off the total price of the next batch of 37 engines to be ordered for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. At the same time, the company acknowledges the cost of the overall F135 engine development programme will grow by about $1 billion to support a three-year extension of flight tests and to improve the engine's performance and durability. Company officials also confirm a debate exists within the programme over slightly boosting the thrust of the F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant in...

State Secretary for Defence Roger Ingebrigtsen has stressed, during meetings with U.S. officials and executives of Lockheed Martin, the importance of greater predictability and more binding agreements for Norwegian industry in connection with Norway's purchase of the F-35 combat aircraft. “This is a large and very advanced program" Ingebrigtsen said, “and we have experienced delays. I was keen to get a binding response from U.S. authorities when I asked whether we could expect more surprises. The answer to this direct question was an unequivocal no. All stones have been turned over, and confidence in the program is great.” Early in...

India on Wednesday ruled out joining the US in developing the F-35 Lightning II fifth generation stealth fighter aircraft. “We have already entered into a partnership with Russia in developing our own fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA),” Defence Minister A K Antony said. “No other country has previously offered such technology to us… There is no question of going back now,” the Defence Minister told reporters during the Aero India 2011 which began in Bangalore on Wednesday. Washington had recently offered New Delhi to join its Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) programme that would have ultimately led India to purchase the...

A good deal of our coverage of JSF has been focused on flight testing, and that is the focus of the latest program changes revealed since the turn of the year. However, there are also problems affecting the JSF production effort. As noted in yesterday's post, briefings by JSF program office leaders (then-director Maj Gen Charles Davis in September 2008 and deputy director Brig Gen CD Moore a year later) set out the planned first flight and delivery dates for the remaining systems development and demonstration (SDD) aircraft. All were missed with one exception - the first flight of BF-2...