F-35WASHINGTON -- Pentagon experts conducting an in-depth review of Lockheed Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter are predicting further cost increases and delays getting the airplanes tested and into service.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to be briefed today on the latest cost and schedule assessments, said two government officials, who requested anonymity because details aren't public. Delays in writing and testing millions of lines of intricate software code and continuing problems and delays with testing the especially complex Marines version of the aircraft are driving costs higher.
The latest projections are based on a preliminary analysis of test and production data from a comprehensive "technical baseline review" of the F-35, the officials said. The review of the $382 billion program is to be presented Nov. 22 to the Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board.
The $50 billion development cost estimate for the F-35 could rise as much as $5 billion more, and Pentagon analysts now estimate that the aircraft may be as much as 11/2 times more expensive to maintain than the warplanes it will replace, the officials said. The F-35 has been billed as being less costly to maintain and operate than existing planes.
Air Force and Navy versions of the plane could be delayed another year and the Marines version by two to three years, the officials said.
The potential delays and increases would be on top of those the Pentagon acknowledged earlier this year. Those include a 13-month extension of the current development phase to November 2015, shifting of $2.8 billion in production funds for continued development and testing, and delaying the purchase of 122 jets to beyond 2015.
Further delays and higher costs will complicate Pentagon efforts to write its 2012 budget proposal, which has to be sent to the White House in coming weeks.
Lockheed is developing the F-35 in Fort Worth, where about 7,000 people work on the program. In a statement, Lockheed said it has been working closely with the Pentagon on the latest review.
"It would be premature for Lockheed Martin to discuss the results of the [review] until the findings ... have been released," the statement said.
Today's briefing of Gates will draw on a review prepared by the F-35 program manager, Vice Adm. David Venlet, who was appointed last spring to get a firm handle on costs and problems. Venlet won't be present for the briefing, the officials said. The review is expected to disclose broad ranges of potential expense growth.
Gates "is engaging in a broader tactical aircraft discussion of which the joint strike fighter is obviously an important piece," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in an e-mail.
"How many more reviews will Gates have to hear before he acknowledges the F-35 is an unaffordable failure?" said Winslow Wheeler, a program critic who is director of the Straus Military Reform Project. "The F-35 is rapidly becoming a millstone around his neck."
Loren Thompson, Lexington Institute defense analyst and consultant to contractors, said the added delays are due in part to technical problems with the aircraft and software that aren't critical but are time-consuming and costly to fix.
"The problem is, the business case for the F-35 is so tightly wound that there's no room for error," Thompson said.
Much of the forecast delay and increased costs, Thompson said, is a result of continuing disagreements among the armed services, the Pentagon's testing office and Lockheed over how much flight testing is required.
Congress hasn't completed work on the fiscal 2011 defense budget, in which the Pentagon requested 43 aircraft. The Senate Appropriations Committee cut $1.5 billion and 10 aircraft from the budget request, citing program delays.
From : Star Telegram
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