Lockheed Martin officials have been sweating bullets over the last few weeks, as lawmakers bandied talk of wide-ranging budget cuts to fund the huge hurricane relief effort. Talk naturally turned to defense programs, including the company’s venerated Joint Strike Fighter program. But F-35 Program Vice President Tom Burbage tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that despite the probable reduction in the number of aircraft the US military may purchase, the cost of the fighter will remain steady. Burbage doesn’t think cuts this early in the program would affect production rates. “We think the front end will remain pretty stable,” he said.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.