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The U.S. Defense Department is banking on international sales of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the next five years to keep the program cost stable, according to a senior Pentagon official.
If those foreign sales do not materialize over that period, know as the future years defense plan (FYDP), the price tag of the jet would grow for both U.S. and allied aircraft, according to Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s acting acquisition executive.
“There are some foreign sales that we do assume take place in the FYDP and that does affect what we think we can get for the money in our budget in our FYDP,” Kendall said after a speech at a defense industry conference in Arlington, Va.. “So if it changes, that would change that result.”
Kendall’s comments come as international support for the behind-schedule and over-budget F-35 program wanes due to European financial woes. Published reports state Italy is preparing to announce plans to reduce its buy of the jet.
Other European F-35 partners include Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and United Kingdom.
The Pentagon’s 2013 budget proposal, which was sent to Congress on Feb. 13, includes $9.2 billion for development and to purchase 29 aircraft
DoD removed 13 aircraft from its 2013 purchasing plans and 179 total jet purchases between 2013 and 2017 so it can fix problems that have come to light during development.
The Pentagon is purchasing aircraft at the same time it is testing them, a process called concurrency. The downside to this method is that early production jets might have to be modified to address flaws discovered during flight testing.
“There is some money in the budget for concurrency,” Kendall said. “If we exceed that amount, then it will probably have to come out of production.”
Pentagon officials claim the most recent restructure of the F-35 program will save DoD $15.1 billion over the next five years.
Kendall, who has been nominated to become the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said he has yet to hear anything definitive about foreign partners modifying purchase plans. He said he spoke with one F-35 partner yesterday, who said their country was “probably on track in the near term.”
“We’re encouraging them to stay with the program, obviously,” Kendall said of the program’s international partners. “We think we’re going to get there. We’re going to ramp up [production] as soon as we can. But they all have to make their own plans based on how they see the situation. We’re being very open with them about the design issues that we see and that we’re working on so they can make informed decisions.”
