Pentagon F-35 program chief lashes Lockheed, Pratt

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/27/us-lockheed-fighter-australia-idUSBRE91Q0AV20130227



Pentagon F-35 program chief lashes Lockheed, Pratt
By Jane Wardell
AVALON, Australia | Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:24am EST

(Reuters) - The Pentagon program chief for the F-35 warplane slammed its commercial partners Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) and Pratt & Whitney on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to "squeeze every nickel" out of the U.S. government and failing to see the long-term benefits of the project.

U.S. Lieutenant-General Christopher Bogdan made the comments during a visit to Australia, where he has sought to convince lawmakers and generals to stick to a plan to buy 100 of the jets, an exercise complicated by the second grounding of the plane this year and looming U.S. defense cuts.

Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), is sole supplier of engines to the $396 billion F-35, or Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin provides the body of the radar-evading jet, the most expensive combat aircraft in history.

"What I see Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney doing today is behaving as if they are getting ready to sell me the very last F-35 and the very last engine and are trying to squeeze every nickel out of that last F-35 and that last engine," Bogdan told reporters at the Australian International Airshow in southern Victoria state.