Lockheed F-35 May Stay Protected, Pentagon’s Buyer Says
By Tony Capaccio - Jul 15, 2013
Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s F-35 fighter may be protected from major cuts even if $52 billion in automatic reductions are imposed on the defense budget in the year starting Oct. 1, according to the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer.
“The F-35 is a very high priority,” Frank Kendall, undersecretary for acquisition, said in an interview. “Could we protect it completely? I’m not sure. We have to look at all the trade-offs. We may address some of those decisions in the fall, but right now, we are committed to the program. That hasn’t changed.”
The F-35 is the Pentagon’s costliest weapon system, with an estimated price tag of $391.2 billion for a fleet of 2,443 aircraft, up 68 percent from the projection in 2001, as measured in current dollars, according to the Pentagon. Kendall cited the weapon’s importance to defense strategy and the need for increased production to reduce the per-plane cost as reasons to give it special protection from mandatory spending cuts called sequestration.
Kendall said he didn’t think the Pentagon’s commitment to the F-35 will change “under any of the budgets we are looking at, including sequestration.”
The sequestration process will require an estimated $52 billion in reductions from planned spending during fiscal 2014. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said last week that if the cuts aren’t averted the Pentagon will do its best to “seek management efficiencies and controls on compensation growth before making cuts to force structure, modernization and readiness.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-15/lockheed-f-35-may-stay-protected-pentagon-s-buyer-says.html
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