Although the Pentagon last month declared that it was increasing the early production tempo of the F-35, the decision to buy 30 aircraft next year does not actually change previous plans. Moreover, there is still no U.S. commitment to multi-year procurement (MYP) before 2015.
Mindful of repeated criticism by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that concurrent development and production of the F-35 is a high-risk strategy, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he was adopting “a cautious approach to ramping up production. He also said he was “trying to ensure that the cost to our partners does not go up.
The nine international partners have been discussing a “consortium buy” to reduce the unit cost of their early F-35s. Unless they modify the current production plan, six of them will be buying 80 or more very expensive aircraft from the low-rate initial production (LRIP) batches, before they can benefit from the economies of scale that MYP offers.
The unit cost of an F-35 at the optimum production rate is already around $90 million at current prices, depending on the variant. The LRIP aircraft are costing much more; the UK recently signed for its first two aircraft that are part of LRIP 3; the UK Ministry of Defence refused to reveal the price paid.
A Lockheed Martin spokesman told AIN that the company was still trying to get the agreement of critical suppliers to a multi-year cost for LRIP batches five to seven, and that a consortium buy would be evaluated again later this year.
Back
|
BAE Systems Tells UK Fraud Office: See You in Court, if Necessary
October 26, 2009 After years of investigation, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it would seek to prosecute BAE Systems “for offenses related to overseas... |
||
|
French Bid To Outmanuever Opposing Fighters in Brazil
September 15, 2009 A top-level handshake in Brazil earlier this month does not necessarily mean the end of that country’s long quest to select a new fighter.... |
||
|
Airbus Claims Technical Progress with A400M
September 15, 2009 Anxious to demonstrate progress toward a first flight, Airbus Military will hold another technical press briefing on the troubled A400M... |
||
|
New Chinooks for Canada, and Upgrades for UK
September 15, 2009 Boeing took a long-expected order from Canada for 15 CH-47F Chinook helicopters worth $1.15 billion. These will be new-build helicopters, to... |
||
|
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Scott Carson Announces Retirement in Major Realignment
August 31, 2009 Boeing Commercial Airplanes president and CEO Scott Carson announced today that he will retire from the company at the end of the year. Boeing... |
||