Lockheed F-35 Overruns Top $1 Billion (for 63 aircraft) Government Auditor Finds

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-20/lockheed-f-35-overruns-top-1-billion-government-auditor-finds.html


Lockheed F-35 Overruns Top $1 Billion, Government Auditor Finds
By Tony Capaccio - Tue Mar 20 19:00:00 GMT 2012

Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT)’s first 63 F-35 fighter jets are exceeding their combined target cost by $1 billion, showing the Pentagon’s costliest program lacks a reliable design and efficient manufacturing, according to U.S. congressional auditors.

The Pentagon is absorbing $672 million and Lockheed Martin the remaining $328 million in added costs for the aircraft in the first four production contracts, the Government Accountability Office said in prepared testimony today for a House Armed Services Committee hearing on tactical aviation. The committee is conducting the first oversight hearing on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for the fiscal 2013 budget.

“The long-stated intent that the Joint Strike Fighter would deliver an affordable, highly common fifth-generation aircraft that could be acquired in large numbers could be in question,” Michael Sullivan, the GAO’s director of acquisition management, said in the statement.

The testimony previews the GAO’s annual report on the Defense Department’s most costly weapons program, which is to be published next month. The GAO’s findings and the Pentagon’s annual test report, issued in January, are the two primary sources that lawmakers and the public have for assessing the military’s and Lockheed Martin claims for the F-35.



unhappycamper comment: BTW, that's $1 billion dollars for the first 63 aircraft, not the entire batch of 2,443 F-35s.

[xchrom]

1. ...

[caraher]

2. "The Pentagon is absorbing $672 million..."

Doesn't that mean WE are paying $672 million? It's framed as if the Pentagon were some private entity taxpayers didn't fund.

As for the future fleet, presumably per-unit overruns will go way down as they get things figured out. At this rate the overrun would be $40 billion or so for all of them. But I'd be surprised if we actually built them all - at some point even the Pentagon will notice that piloted combat aircraft have a limited future.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Where are the teabag deficit hawks on this? Where are the Paul boys??

[MrScorpio]

4. It's a timeless story of love and glory...

Cost Plus strikes again.