F-35 LRIP-8

Another article from Reuter's chief F-35 fan-writer that somehow leaves out LRIP-8 long-lead costs. Hint: not counting mistake-jet modifications, this is how one really calculates the cost of a LRIP batch.

Toward the bottom of the page we have the following which will be repeat fodder in the next DOD annual test report:

Mahr said the overall F-35 program was doing "pretty well" but said he continued to worry about the pace of retrofitting existing jets to fix problems discovered during flight testing.

He said the Pentagon is also trying to increase how often the new jets are available for operational use. The goal was to boost the "availability rate" to 57 percent by the end of the year, up from rates of around 30 percent to 40 percent now.

Mahr said current rates were low because some components were not lasting as long as expected. The rates also include jets that are out for repairs and those whose engines must be inspected every three hours after the June engine failure.

Trying to pump up reliability on aircraft that have low-order functioning mission systems. But yeah, keep buying more prototype aircraft by any other name.


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-Time's Battleland - 5 Part series on F-35 procurement - 2013 
-Summary of Air Power Australia F-35 points
-Bill Sweetman, Aviation Week and the F-35
-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
-The F-35B design is leaking fuel
-F-35 deliveries
-ADF's wacky F-35 assumptions
-Gauging performance, the 2008 F-35, Davis dream brief
-Aboriginal brought out as a prop
-Super Kendall's F-35 problem
-LM sales force in pre-Internet era
-History of F-35 engine problems
-Compare