bobdina
08-04-2010, 09:17 PM
By John Reed - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Aug 4, 2010 16:32:32 EDT
Air Force chief Gen. Norton Schwartz is considerably “more optimistic” than he was this spring about the future of the F-35 Lightning II program given the significant progress being made on the plane’s test program.
“I am more confident than I was, to be sure,” about the F-35A — the Joint Strike Fighter version his service will fly — due to a recent string of testing successes with the jet, Schwartz said during a Wednesday meeting with the editorial staff of Defense News and Air Force Times.
The four-star’s confidence in the embattled program has been boosted because the plane is considerably ahead of its flight test schedule for this year. Furthermore, it hasn’t had a single structural failure during stress testing and has not experienced the “software reboot” problems that plagued the F-22 Raptor at a similar phase in its development, said Schwartz.
“I think we flew 46 [test] sorties in June, when 28 were scheduled; another indication that things are beginning to accelerate,” he said.
Most importantly, said Schwartz, price negotiations for the upcoming purchase of 32 low rate initial production jets, known as LRIP-4, “give me some confidence that we’re on a good recovery path.”
While the Air Force chief declined to discuss specifics of the negotiations, officials from F-35-maker Lockheed Martin have repeatedly said the final price tag for LRIP-4 jets will be between 20 to 30 percent below December 2009 Pentagon predictions that the planes will cost $76 million apiece.
Many F-35 watchers see LRIP-4 as crucial because the fixed-price contract commits Lockheed to meeting the price it has negotiated with the Pentagon for the jets. If the company can deliver the planes for the price it quoted, it will assuage F-35 doubters in Congress and cash-strapped allies who will be buying the jet, analysts have said. If the price of the jets ends up being as high as the Pentagon estimates, nations may buy fewer F-35s than anticipated, which will increase the per-plane price in process called an acquisition death spiral.
Schwartz did not mention progress on the Navy’s version of the jet, the F-35C or the Marine Corps’ F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing version of the fighter. While the F-35C is also doing well in flight tests, the B-model jet has been lagging behind in its flight test schedule this year, according to Lockheed officials
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/defense_schwartz_f35_080410/
Posted : Wednesday Aug 4, 2010 16:32:32 EDT
Air Force chief Gen. Norton Schwartz is considerably “more optimistic” than he was this spring about the future of the F-35 Lightning II program given the significant progress being made on the plane’s test program.
“I am more confident than I was, to be sure,” about the F-35A — the Joint Strike Fighter version his service will fly — due to a recent string of testing successes with the jet, Schwartz said during a Wednesday meeting with the editorial staff of Defense News and Air Force Times.
The four-star’s confidence in the embattled program has been boosted because the plane is considerably ahead of its flight test schedule for this year. Furthermore, it hasn’t had a single structural failure during stress testing and has not experienced the “software reboot” problems that plagued the F-22 Raptor at a similar phase in its development, said Schwartz.
“I think we flew 46 [test] sorties in June, when 28 were scheduled; another indication that things are beginning to accelerate,” he said.
Most importantly, said Schwartz, price negotiations for the upcoming purchase of 32 low rate initial production jets, known as LRIP-4, “give me some confidence that we’re on a good recovery path.”
While the Air Force chief declined to discuss specifics of the negotiations, officials from F-35-maker Lockheed Martin have repeatedly said the final price tag for LRIP-4 jets will be between 20 to 30 percent below December 2009 Pentagon predictions that the planes will cost $76 million apiece.
Many F-35 watchers see LRIP-4 as crucial because the fixed-price contract commits Lockheed to meeting the price it has negotiated with the Pentagon for the jets. If the company can deliver the planes for the price it quoted, it will assuage F-35 doubters in Congress and cash-strapped allies who will be buying the jet, analysts have said. If the price of the jets ends up being as high as the Pentagon estimates, nations may buy fewer F-35s than anticipated, which will increase the per-plane price in process called an acquisition death spiral.
Schwartz did not mention progress on the Navy’s version of the jet, the F-35C or the Marine Corps’ F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing version of the fighter. While the F-35C is also doing well in flight tests, the B-model jet has been lagging behind in its flight test schedule this year, according to Lockheed officials
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/08/defense_schwartz_f35_080410/