LM PR - program must reduce costs or F-35 is unaffordable

Taken literally, this comment is powerful:

"We must reduce costs or else this airplane will be unaffordable," said Joe DellaVedova, a Joint Program Office spokesman.

Then there is this:

Rein (a Lockheed spokesman) defended the cost effectiveness of concurrency and the performance of the jet.

"If we didn't do concurrency, we would basically build about 15 aircraft, flight test them four to six years, then try to start up the production line and suppliers again," a costly expense, he said.

Yes, because that has failed terribly for so many program over the years.

The company also says the stealthy F-35 is six times more effective in air-to-air combat and surveillance and eight times more effective in the air-to-ground role than legacy fighters.

"The F-35 is a flying computer and with its sensors and radars it's able to fire, shoot and take down it enemy before it even knows it there," Rein said.

Muppet. Unlikely and, unlikely.


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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Aviation Week (ARES blog) F-35 posts (2007 to present)
-U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) F-35 reports
-F-35 JSF: Cold War Anachronism Without a Mission
-History of F-35 Production Cuts
-Looking at the three Japan contenders (maneuverability)
-How the Canadian DND misleads the public about the F-35
-Value of STOVL F-35B over-hyped
-Cuckoo in the nest--U.S. DOD DOT&E F-35 report is out
-6 Feb 2012 Letter from SASC to DOD boss Panetta questioning the decision to lift probation on the F-35B STOVL.
-USAFs F-35 procurement plan is not believable
-December 2011 Australia/Canada Brief
-F-35 Key Performance Perimeters (KPP) and Feb 2012 CRS report
-F-35 DOD Select Acquisition Report (SAR) FY2012
-Release of F-35 2012 test report card shows continued waste on a dud program
-Australian Defence answers serious F-35 project concerns with "so what?"
-Land of the Lost (production cut history update March 2013)
-Outgoing LM F-35 program boss admits to flawed weight assumptions (March 2013)
-A look at the F-35 program's astro-turfing
-F-35 and F-16 cost per flying hour
-Is this aircraft worth over $51B of USMC tac-air funding?
-Combat radius and altitude, A model
-F-35A, noise abatement and airfields and the USAF
-Deceptive marketing practice: F-35 blocks
-The concurrency fraud
-The dung beetle's "it's known" lie
-F-35's air-to-air ability limited
-F-35 Blocks--2006 and today


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