Top Pentagon officials on
Wednesday cited both progress and continuing risks on
the $396 billion Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter
program, and said Singapore had shown "tremendous
interest" in the next-generation stealth fighter.
Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, the
Pentagon's F-35 program chief, told a subcommittee
that he expects to reach agreement with Lockheed
about a sixth and seventh batch of F-35s by the end of
May, followed by a contract award in June. Sources
familiar with the matter said the deal would cover 71
planes and would be worth about $9 billion.
Bogdan told a subcommittee of the Senate Armed
Services Committee that Singapore would likely decide
by this summer whether to buy the new warplane.
He said he was also "cautiously optimistic" that South
Korea would also join the multinational program when it
announces the winner of a 60-plane competition in
June.
Boeing Co's F-15 Silent Eagle and the Eurofighter
Typhoon, built by EADS, Finmeccanica SpA and BAE
Systems Plc, are also competing for the contract.
The United States is counting on foreign sales of the
new radar-evading fighter to help drive down the
plane's cost, which has risen sharply since the program
began in 2001 and may go up further if budget cuts by
Washington or other countries postpone or curtail their
orders.
U.S. allies in Asia are particularly interested in the
Lockheed plane given China's unveiling of two new
fighter planes over a period of 22 months, according to
U.S. defense officials.
Lieutenant General Charles Davis, the top uniformed Air
Force acquisition official, told lawmakers that China may
have used data from unclassified U.S. computer
networks to design and build the planes, although he
said the Chinese planes' capabilities would probably
not measure up to those of the F-35 and F-22 fighters,
both built by Lockheed.
Beijing and Washington have traded accusations in
recent months of massive cyber intrusions. The United
States says hacking attacks emanating from China have
targeted U.S. government and corporate computer
networks among others, stealing government and
commercial data.
Wednesday's hearing by the Senate Armed Service
Committee's subcommittee on tactical air and land
forces showed growing confidence in the troubled F-35
fighter program after years of cost overruns and
schedule delays.
Bogdan, other military officials and senators all said
they were heartened by signs of progress on the
program, including its production cost, but remained
concerned about projections that it will cost over $1
trillion to operate the new planes over the next five
decades.
The Pentagon's chief arms buyer, Frank Kendall, told
reporters at a separate event that he felt "much more
comfortable" about the program now than just a year
and a half ago, although he wanted to maintain
pressure on Lockheed to drive down the new airplane's
production and operating costs.
Northrop Grumman Corp and Britain's BAE Systems are
the main subcontractors to Lockheed on the F-35
program.
Bogdan said the F-35 program office was actively
working on ways to reduce the cost of operating and
maintaining the planes, including by opening that work
to more competition.
Davis and Bogdan both warned that mandatory budget-
driven cuts to the program in fiscal 2013 could increase
the cost of the remaining airplanes to be bought by
millions of dollars. They said it was still unclear exactly
how planes would have to be cut under the
sequestration cuts that took effect on March 1.

www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/25/us-lockheed-fighter-idUSBRE93O00E20130425?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=932

All these for the sake of destruction??

Am tired of these media indoctrinators..