Posted on 12/16/2010 9:12:07 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Pentagon’s most recent per-unit target price for the conventional-takeoff-and-landing (CTOL) version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is $111.6 million, according to program officials.
The target price for the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version, which has encountered the most challenging technical and testing problems, is $109.4 million, the F-35 Joint Program Office says. And the target cost for the most expensive variant — the carrier version (CV) — is $142.9 million, officials say.
The price data traditionally has not been publicly released, but the program office released these figures to Aviation Week in response to questions.
Neither price includes the cost of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engines; that contract is under negotiation. Based on the low-rate-initial-production (LRIP) III pricing, the average cost of a CTOL engine is about $19 million and the average Stovl engine and lift-fan system cost is about $38 million. Pratt has offered a price reduction of at least 10% for LRIP IV.
Negotiations for the LRIP IV contract began in October 2009 and continued for more than a year; the contract deal was announced Nov. 19 without data on the per-unit target pricing. During that time, the Pentagon learned of more delays in delivering test aircraft as well as a lag in the flight testing program itself. Pentagon procurement czar Ashton Carter and acting Air Force procurement chief David Van Buren shifted LRIP IV away from being a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract.
(Excerpt) Read more at aviationweek.com ...
ping
The costs for the F-35A and F-35C reflect their less mature development and their associated higher costs.
By the time full rate production comes along, the F-35A will have the lowest unit flyaway cost, the F-35B the highest.
And the costs listed here don't include approximately $18 million for the engine, or $35 million for the engine/LiftFan.
Oops, $19 million and $38 million.
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