Lockheed gets edict to cut F-35's $1.1 trillion support bill

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Lockheed Martin Corp. must find ways to reduce the Pentagon’s current $1.1
trillion estimate to own and operate the F-35 jet, the world’s costliest weapons
program, according to the Defense Department’s latest annual program overview.

According to the document, Lockheed “must embrace much-needed supply chain
management affordability initiatives” to cut costs on the next-generation
stealth fighter.

The $1.1 trillion estimate to sustain the U.S. F-35 fleet through 2077 was
compiled in 2015 by the Pentagon’s independent cost assessment office but has
not been updated, according to the Selected Acquisition Report, or SAR, obtained
by Bloomberg News. The Pentagon said this week that the estimate will be updated
next year before acquisition officials meet to decide whether the program should
enter full-production.

Although the estimate is unchanged, the acquisition report focused at length on
the importance of reducing the $1.1 trillion figure as well comments from the
F-35 program office pointing out what it said are shortcomings of the
independent estimate.

The report acknowledges that under current forecasts, “the projected F-35
sustainment outlays are too costly” and “given planned fleet growth, future U.S.
service operations and support budgets will be strained.” Bloomberg reported
last week that the U.S. Air Force may have to cut its F-35 purchases by
one-third, or about 590 jets, if it can’t find ways to reduce operations and
support costs by as much as 38 percent over a decade.




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