“It might be close to phenomenal”

Well that was an easy prediction yesterday.

The parasitic court jesters are out with their words.

“Compared to the free fall the program seemed to be in, this is a strong sign of a program stabilizing and improving,” said Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst for the Teal Group in Washington, D.C. “It might be close to phenomenal.”

The contract hasn’t been finalized, but it would produce cost savings of up to 8 percent per unit in Lot 7 aircraft, compared with Lot 5, for example. Lot 6 aircraft would represent a reduction of 4 percent per unit, officials say.

“What these cost reductions, lot after lot, mean is that Lockheed is getting the price down to what an F-16 would cost,” said aerospace analyst Loren Thompson at the Lexington Institute. “That is crucial to selling it overseas.”

Aboulafia, who opines on business aviation has the grand total fund of knowledge on air power issues that can be written inside a matchbook with a large-sized crayon.

Thompson? Well, you know...