Workers can be seen on the moving line and forward fuselage assembly areas for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at Lockheed Martin Corp's factory located in Fort Worth, Texas in this October 13, 2011 handout photo provided by Lockheed Martin. Credit: Reuters/Lockheed Martin/Randy A. Crites/Handout
Pentagon Sees Progress On Cost Of F-35, Long Way To Go -- Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters
(Reuters) - The Pentagon's recent focus on pricing has led to "remarkable progress" in cutting the cost of the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter program, but the plane still costs more than it should to build and operate, Director of Defense Pricing Shay Assad said.
"We're making progress. We're doing OK, but we have a long way to go to get to what a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) should cost," Assad said in an interview last week.
The Pentagon expects to spend $392 billion to develop and build 2,443 F-35 jets for the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, 70 percent more than initial projections. But the projected cost has begun coming down, dropping $4 billion from 2012 to 2013, and further reductions are expected next year.
Assad said the cost analysis initiative had saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars on some contracts.
Read more ....
My Comment: A few F-35 supporters do not share this Pentagon viewpoint.
No comments:
Post a Comment