Despite discouraging news about F-35 costs at a recent Defense Acquisition Board program review, there’s been no move to cut the size of the program, said Pentagon acquisition czar Ashton Carter. Speaking last week at the Credit Suisse/Aviation Week aerospace and defense finance conference in New York, Carter said: “We want the number of planes. We just don’t want them for the costs we’re getting.” In 2002 baseline dollars, the final unit cost of the F-35 has risen from an original estimate of $50 million to $92 million. Carter said “there isn’t ever going to be more money” for the F-35, so the Pentagon has no choice but to get cost growth under control and “reverse it.” Asked whether the Marine Corps’ F-35 short takeoff and vertical landing variant would be canceled to save money, Carter said only that all the variants have “issues,” reported Reuters. Carter said he’s “not happy” with the F-35’s status, but is confident that the ultra-complex program is now understood at his level in a way that it hasn’t been before. Getting the cost down will be crucial to keeping foreign partners in the program, he said during his Dec. 1 address. (See also Bloomberg report)
When acting Air Force Secretary Gary A. Ashworth rescinded service-wide “Family Days” last week citing the need to build readiness, he left it up to commanders, directors, and supervisors to decide if they would still permit extra days off. Here’s how Air Force major commands are taking that guidance.