F-35 Costs are Rising, says GAO

By Chris Pocock

March 17, 2008
Aircraft

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) will cost much more than currently predicted, and the expected cost per flight hour already exceeds that of the F-16, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In its latest annual report to Congress on the JSF, the GAO said cost and schedule pressures are mounting, and the development schedule “is likely to slip from 12 to 27 months.

The GAO did report progress in “several important areas,” but still repeated its previous view that production of the JSF is being ramped up too soon. In a previous story on the F-35 program, it was reported that Lockheed Martin and key manufacturing partners BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman were striving to drive down production cost.

But the GAO recently said Lockheed Martin adjusted the manufacturing schedule three times because of design changes, delayed parts deliveries and “manufacturing inefficiencies. According to the GAO, the first test aircraft required 35 percent more labor hours (65,000 more manhours) to build than planned.

This contradicts briefings that the program partners have given to the media, including AIN. Lockheed Martin and the F-35 program office in the Pentagon are preparing a new acquisition cost estimate, “which is expected to be much larger than what is now budgeted,” the GAO said.

Back

Lockheed moves ahead on VH-71 October 06, 2008 The program to provide new VIP helicopters for the U.S. president has taken a step forward with first flight of an “operational pilot-production... [more]
USAF Tanker Competition Deferred until 2009 September 16, 2008 U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates last week called off the revised KC-X tanker solicitation before the final request for proposal (RFP) was... [more]
Northern Europeans Seeking Alternatives to the F-35 September 16, 2008 Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway are all formally investigating alternatives to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to replace their F-16s. On... [more]
Rafale in Red Flag, and in Switzerland September 16, 2008 Four Rafale fighters from the French Air Force have completed a month-long deployment to the U.S., where they conducted a squadron exchange at... [more]
Dilemma for Boeing as Pentagon Issues Revised RFP for KC-X August 22, 2008 Boeing faces a tough decision, now that the Pentagon has confirmed that bigger is better in the KC-X tanker competition. “We’ve now revised the... [more]