LM December 2011 Canada / Australia brief

Below is a recent Lockheed Martin briefing that is dated in the middle of December 2011. (H/T-Spudman on F-16.net)

It is, as usual, overly optimistic. So much so as to be yet another deception from the sales force.

Also we have been blessed with 2 more Low Rate Initial Production Batches; up to 11. It was 9 and at the start of the program 6. All this due to defective management. Interesting because there is no recent Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) signed off on by Joint Strike Fighter Partner Nations. The most recent is 2010 (PDF). Many troubles have appeared since then.

Back in 2010 the F-35 program Milestone-B (a basic certification that allows it to exist as a normal DOD procurement program) was removed due to its second Nunn-McCurdy breach. DOD officials--as a practice of good management oversight--have not figured out how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. There is no solid long-range plan.




A few highlights:

Slide 3-- LOL's for "Lower life-cycle costs", "Economies of scale" and "Counters Current and Future Threats". Interesting as the later needs definition. The job of handling high-end threats was for the F-22. That was always an assumption in the F-35/JSF requirement. Economies of scale are a dream at best. Life-cycle costs are also an interesting piece of creative writing.

Slide 4-- There are your 11 LRIPs and even a missing flag for the Netherlands. Most likely a typo with this crew.

Slide 5-- Doesn't mention that there are a lot of parked aircraft for any number of reasons relating to poor project management. This includes an already delayed pilot training program at Eglin AFB, that is effectively grounded until further notice due to safety concerns.

Slide 6-- Nice photo of a lot of people not working.

Slide 7-- On schedule but not compared to many previous schedules long busted.

Slide 9-- Serious over-optimism on most of those numbers. Big time.