Non-Subscriber Extract
Pentagon report reveals falling F-35 JSF costs
By Caitlin Harrington
10 April 2008
US Air Force (USAF) and Lockheed Martin officials have welcomed a new Pentagon report saying the costs of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) slightly decreased last year.
"I'm honestly happy any time costs don't increase," Major-General Charles Davis, the joint programme executive officer, told reporters on 8 April.
A new selected acquisition report (SAR) released late on 7 April showed that the overall cost of the F-35 programme, including research and development, declined by USD981.3 million, or 0.3 per cent, to USD298.8 billion.
The findings contradict a recent US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, which found that although the official development costs had not increased, this had only been achieved by cutting back the flight-test schedule and the number of flight-test aircraft.
The GAO claimed these cutbacks could end up inflating programme costs in the long term. In a worst-case scenario, the GAO found the overall costs could increase by USD38 billion over the life of the programme.
The USAF responded to the GAO findings on 8 April, saying the SAR report for the 2006-07 time period shows that the GAO investigation was wrong.
"We do not agree with that estimate, there is no basis for that estimate, and we do not support it," said Maj Gen Davis.