(Luft) Lockheed Martin F-35 - Lightning II

[revan]

Ein sehr guter Artikel der isch mit den Kosten des F35 Programms befasst.


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JSF Costs Key To 2011 Global Fighter Market

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program took up a lot of real estate in the national and international press and trade media in 2010, and the critical attention will continue into 2011. The sheer size of the program to supply the U.S. military and partner nations with a stealthy and relatively affordable strike fighter, coupled with questions about prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s ability to stick to the schedule and meet cost targets, makes it the No. 1 target of industry speculation.

The JSF program, currently in its system development and demonstration (SDD) phase, includes three different variants: the conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) F-35A to replace U.S. Air Force F-16s and A-10s; the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) F-35B to replace the U.S. Marine Corps’ AV-8Bs and F/A-18s; and the F-35C carrier variant for the U.S. Navy. The program is in the early stages of flight testing, and, typical of development programs, not everything is going to plan.

Restructuring of the program in February 2010, and again in January 2011 because of final-assembly flight-test delays, has pushed completion of SDD to mid-2016 from late 2013, and added $8.4 billion to the cost of development. The additional $4.6 billion needed in Fiscal 2012-16 to complete development will be found by cutting planned procurement by 124 aircraft, to 325. This will slow the ramp-up of production and make it more difficult to drive down unit costs.

In an effort to restore affordability to the program, the Pentagon struck agreements with Lockheed Martin and engine supplier Pratt & Whitney to buy the fourth low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch of 31 aircraft and 37 engines under fixed-price incentive contracts rather than continue with cost-plus procurement as originally planned. This places the risk of cost overruns largely on the contractors’ shoulders. Lockheed Martin said at the time the transition to fixed-price contracting was made two years ahead of schedule to counter concerns of escalating program costs.

Keeping the F-35 within targets is of critical concern to both the industry team and the Pentagon. The total program requirement across all partner nations currently amounts to 2,443 aircraft. While that figure is almost certain to be reduced in coming years as national deficits curtail defense spending, unit cost has always been a major concern for the Pentagon because of the large fleets of legacy aircraft that must be replaced. Even a small increase in unit cost can have a large impact on procurement budgets, and independent estimates say the price of the F-35 has roughly doubled since 2001.

Estimates for the price of a production aircraft vary widely, ranging from above $100 million on down. Lockheed Martin asserts the unit recurring flyaway cost of the F-35A will eventually drop to around $60 million in 2010 dollars, and argues this would put the cost of acquiring a CTOL F-35 on par with buying a Block 60 F-16 or Block 2 F/A-18E/F. For Lockheed Martin, meeting that cost goal depends heavily on the number of F-35s it will sell to international customers, and the number of F-35s is can sell abroad depends heavily on meeting its price target........