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Posted on Sat, Apr. 08, 2006    

F-35 program total now at $276.5 billion

By BOB COX
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

The Pentagon reported Friday that the total estimated cost of Lockheed 
Martin's F-35 joint strike fighter program has risen by $20 billion, a 
7.7 percent increase in the last year.

In a quarterly "selected acquisition report," Pentagon analysts now 
estimate that it will cost $276.5 billion to develop three versions of 
the F-35 and build about 2,400 of the planes for the Air Force, Navy and 
Marines.

That's up from the $256 billion figure last given for the program. The 
total cost figures are for the lifetime of the program, which could 
exceed 20 years. It is the largest U.S. weapons program ever.

The Pentagon said cost increases are largely because of higher materials 
costs and a change in inflation expectations.

Earlier Friday, the Pentagon said that its top weapons buyer had signed 
off on a plan to allow Lockheed and other contractors to begin spending 
money for early-stage work on the first five F-35 production models.

Ken Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, approved the plan 
Thursday. Krieg and other senior civilian and military officials 
reviewed the program's progress and plans last week.

Congress included $120 million in the fiscal 2006 budget that was 
approved in December for F-35 contractors to buy "long lead items," such 
as manufacturing equipment, materials and some initial parts and assemblies.

"It's a down payment on the first five airplanes," said Kathy Crawford, 
spokeswoman for the F-35's program manager, Rear Adm. Steven Enewold.

The Pentagon has requested more money to build the first "low rate 
initial production" planes, all conventional-takeoff-and-landing 
versions for the U.S. Air Force, in the fiscal 2007 budget that 
President Bush submitted to Congress.

Enewold and other program managers had briefed Krieg on program 
progress. Crawford said that a critical design review team, which in 
February examined the work done by Lockheed and other contractors, gave 
the design for the Air Force version a green light.

Crawford confirmed that the first test flight of the prototype F-35, 
which had been expected to take place in August, is now likely to slip 
to early fall.

Ground testing of the F-35 prototype "is right on schedule," Lockheed 
spokesman John Kent said.

The first production versions of the aircraft won't be completed until 
2009, by which time much flight testing using test aircraft is scheduled 
to have been completed.