Pentagon arms buyer 'hopeful' that Lockheed F-35 block buy will proceed

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. | Sun Dec 4, 2016 | 12:17am EST

Pentagon arms buyer 'hopeful' that Lockheed F-35 block buy will proceed

Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chief arms buyer, said on Saturday he was hopeful that a proposed three-year block buy of Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets, expected to generate large savings, would go ahead."I can't say what's in the final budget, but I'm very hopeful that the block buy will proceed as planned, Kendall told Reuters at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in southern California.

Kendall said Pentagon officials had debated postponing or scrapping the block buy, which would cover more than 400 aircraft and includes purchases by the U.S. military and other countries participating in the F-35 program, until after operational testing and evaluation had been completed.

The Pentagon's chief weapons tester, Michael Gilmore, has long argued about the need to test the planes before buying and building larger quantities.

The Pentagon and its international buyers have pushed hard for the block buy to help drive costs lower via bigger economies of scale.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lockheed-fighter-idUSKBN13T05Y

[msongs]

1. no need to test them. their purpose is to raid the treasury. trump has the same idea nt

[HassleCat]

2. Big savings!

They will not cost $400 squillotrilliard, but only $390 squillotrilliard. Talking of "savings" with these weapons systems is true insanity. I like the part where they ignore the guy who wants to make sure they work before we buy them. What a wet blanket!