F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's True Cost May Never Be Known, Amid Creative Accounting Fiascos
By Christopher Harress
on April 25 2014 2:04 PM
As the Pentagon welcomed Australia’s commitment this week to buy an additional 58 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT), questions linger over the astronomical costs and creative accounting presented in a recent report on the aircraft.
The Pentagon claims that after a decade of stunning cost overruns, the fighter jet is now back on track and coming in under budget, but a closer look at the data within the F-35’s annual report reveals that the figures rely upon dubious projections, including wildly speculative inflation rates and fuel and labor costs over the next 50 years.
“No one on this planet knows what inflation will be in, say, just six months time, but the Department of Defense seems to think they do,” said renowned military expert Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project, started in 2005. “The Pentagon plays this game all the time. It’s a typical example of how they manipulate long-term projections to make programs go down smoother.”
The Joint Strike fighter project has faced numerous delays and ever-rising costs since the contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin in October 2001. While the program was initially projected to cost about $200 billion, costs have risen sharply over the past eight years, to the point where the F-35 has been described as the “$1 trillion aircraft,” as current-day costs come in at about $921 billion.
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http://www.ibtimes.com/f-35-joint-strike-fighters-true-cost-may-never-be-known-amid-creative-accounting-fiascos-1576406
[HR][HR]
Money For Nothing? Boeing Says F-35 Isn’T So Stealth After All
Published time: April 25, 2014 18:59
As the price of the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons endeavor ever soars even further, critics are calling into question the cost and capabilities of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
--CLIP
But now in addition to the continuously increasing costs, the F-35's actual ability to stealthily soar through the sky is being called into question.
Mike Gibbons is the vice president for Boeing’s Super Hornet and Growler programs, and has good reason to talk down the F-35s—after all, less money to Lockheed Martin likely means more for his firm. Regardless, Gibbons told Osborn and Hoffman that the F-35 is no longer as advanced of a stealth craft as once claimed, and is not as effective as the Growler when it comes to countering a wide spectrum of air defense systems.
"The density of the threat is getting more complex and more difficult. The electromagnetic spectrum is getting more complex and more difficult and requires more of what the Growler provides in electronic attack and electronic awareness. Only the Growler has this capability," Gibbons told the website.
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http://rt.com/usa/154956-stealth-jet-f35-growler/