Pentagon, Lockheed see price of F-35 going up - Reuters India

[PaperMan]

Pentagon, Lockheed see price of F-35 going up - Reuters India

By Walter Gibbs and Andrea Shalal-Esa

OSLO/WASHINGTON |
Wed Feb 15, 2012 2:28am IST

OSLO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delays in U.S. and international orders for Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) new F-35 fighter jet will increase its total cost, Lockheed and U.S. officials said on Tuesday, as Italy announced a cut in spending on the warplane.

On Monday, the Pentagon confirmed plans to put off orders for 179 F-35s over the next five years to save $15.1 billion and allow more time for testing, a third restructuring in recent years.

U.S. officials insist they have not changed their plans to develop and buy 2,443 jets at a cost of $382 billion over the next few decades.

Continued schedule delays and talk of lingering technical issues have prompted the eight countries that are helping to fund development of the new plane -- Britain, Australia, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Italy and the Netherlands -- to rethink their own near- and long-term plans.

Acting Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall said the U.S. decision and any delays in international orders would drive up the average price per unit of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's costliest weapons program.

Kendall, speaking to reporters after a defense conference hosted by Aviation Week, gave no detailed cost estimates.

In Oslo, Lockheed executive vice president Tom Burbage told Reuters that U.S. plans to drag out its purchases of the F-35 would increase the price of the plane somewhat.

"It will raise the overall average


http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=...EG20120214