Posted on 03/30/2012 7:01:37 PM PDT by U-238
Lockheed Martin scrambled today to explain the latest increases in the Joint Strike Fighter's costs, arguing that the three versions of the aircraft "will be comparable to or lower than that of the seven" older airplanes it will replace. Overall, the F-35 will cost an appreciably impressive $1.5 trillion over the 55 years it is expected to be flying, up from an estimated $1 trillion.
The latest numbers were released this afternoon as part of the Pentagon's authoritative Selected Acquisition Report. The overall value of the program comes from a Lockheed Martin statement.
For perspective on just how much money is involved, the latest Government Accountability Office's survey of major defense program says the estimated cost of the Pentagon's 96 major defense acquisition programs is $1.58 trillion. The "total acquisition cost" of these programs has grown by 5 percent to $74.4 billion. GAO says "about $31.1 billion can be attributed to factors such as inefficiencies in production, $29.6 billion to quantity changes, and $13.7 billion to research and development cost growth. As GAO puts it, these costs are "dominated by a small number of programs, with the Joint Strike Fighter accounting for the most cost growth in the last year, and the largest projected future funding needs."
The costs of the F-35 aircraft itself rose $10.7 billion; the F136 engines that power the plane are treated separately and their costs rose $5.6 billion.
Lockheed issued a statement noting that the cost projections "are based on a number of variables that are subject to considerable fluctuation over the next 55 years, making the estimate inherently imprecise." Also, Lockheed notes the Pentagon has never before tried to project the costs of an aircraft over such a long stretch. And the Pentagon added "several new costs and program adjustments"
(Excerpt) Read more at defense.aol.com ...
$1.5 Trillion over 55 years to keep us free?
Or $2 Trillion over 10 years to enslave us?
Which shall it be? Choices, choices...
Give Obama “flexibility” and he’ll fix this ... problem.
Da.
LOL
The “spin-off” technology is worth billions of dollars
Having flown off boats that chronically ran with only half the Auto Carrier Landing System working most of the time, it will be a while before we can fly UCAVs off boats.
Kill it. Kill it now, before the lies and fraud cost more.
The USAF and Lockheed Martin have invested a lot of time and money on this project. You have to see it all the way to its conclusion.
No, we don’t.
Those of us who have a some experience in the defense industry can spot the scam a mile away.
They depend on people like you saying EXACTLY what you said.
The only way to bring them to heel is to be able to shut it down when they cross the line and lie about cost overruns, lie about delivery dates, etc. They’ve amply proven that they’re now going to scam the US Taxpayer for decades to come with this project. Shut it down now, because the money we’ve already spent will be a small sum of the total money wasted on this project when we’re in it for another five to ten years.
They have made progress. They have already formed a small squadron and training with airplanes at Eglin AFB and Edwards AFB.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2864779/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2864187/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2863462/posts
Of course long-term costs are going up - how much has the dollar devalued in the last 4 years? At this rate, it might take $4-5 trillion just to keep pace...
Well put!
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