Lawmaker wishes to separate the F-35’s Block IV upgrade program from the rest of the project—stated in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act—won’t slow things down, but it will add a lot of cost, Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall said. “It’s a misperception” that making the Block IV a Major Defense Acquisition Program will add delay, but it will add overhead costs, an abundance of new documentation, and “distracts people from managing the program,” said Kendall during a late Tuesday conference call with reporters after an F-35 CEO meeting in Phoenix, Ariz. Such a move would only make the jet more expensive, he said. Kendall also expressed his bafflement by the NDAA language calling for abolition of the F-35 System Program Office in 2019, after the full-rate production decision, and handing its management to the separate services afterwards. “If the JPO is abolished … that would affect coordination with industry partners,” partner nations, and foreign military sales purchasers of the aircraft, he asserted. The F-35 is so complex that “it demands a central organization … and oversight,” he said, noting that the Pentagon is “preparing a formal response” to this language. He also said the SPO is “sized appropriately” and is neither in need of expansion nor deep cuts.
The Space Force awarded three contracts for rocket launches worth up to a combined $13.68 billion on April 4—and the usual players SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have got some competition in the form of newcomer Blue Origin.