DoD: Expect fewer F-35s if costs keep rising

[unhappycamper]

Money crunch
USAF, Navy and USMC are set to buy more than 2,400


DoD: Expect fewer F-35s if costs keep rising
By John T. Bennett - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 3, 2010 17:34:25 EST

The Pentagon will buy fewer F-35s than planned if program costs keep rising, says a senior U.S. defense official.

“If there is (additional) cost growth, then we will have to reduce the buy,” Robert Hale, Pentagon comptroller, said Wednesday during a Precision Strike Association-sponsored conference in Arlington, Va. “I don’t see us getting additional funding” above the $708 billion in the Obama administration’s 2011 defense spending proposal.

The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are set to buy more than 2,400 Lockheed Martin F-35s. The Air Force will buy a conventional take-off-and-landing variant, while the Navy will buy a carrier version, and the Marines will purchase a short-takeoff-and-landing variant.

In addition, eight other nations are officially signed on to buy the Lightning II war jet. Singapore and Israel are also expected to buy it. Sources say the Pentagon is pushing Japan to purchase some number of F-35s.

The three U.S. services currently plan to buy a bit more than 2,400 F-35s. Eight other nations are partners on the fifth-generation fighter effort. Two more, Israel and Singapore, could buy the jet, too.


Rest of article about this $239 million dollar wonder at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/03/defense_jsf_costs_030310w/

[thunder rising]

1. Who is the enemy that the fighter is supposed to attack or defend? DoD still loving the cold war.