Further to this post,

F-35 woes: “A Shocking And Unexpected Development”/Canadian Predate

the latest:

Lockheed’s Stevens Says F-35 May Need `More Time, More Dollars’

The development phase of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet fighter, the most expensive U.S. weapon program, will likely take longer and more money than expected to complete, Chief Executive Officer Robert Stevens said…

The Pentagon is conducting a so-called Technical Baseline Review, led by F-35 program manager Vice Admiral David Venlet, in time for a scheduled Nov. 22 Defense Acquisition Board evaluation. The review may disclose broad ranges of potential cost increases and schedule delays on top of changes unveiled this year by the Pentagon, two government officials with knowledge of the program said this week…

The Pentagon has already mandated a 13-month extension to the current development phase to November 2015, shifting $2.8 billion in production funds for continued research and delaying the purchase of 122 jets to beyond 2015 [yet our government claims we will start receiving our F-35s in 2016--hah!]. The weapon program is estimated to cost $382 billion…

…Pentagon cost analysts now estimate the JSF may be as much as 1 1/2 times more expensive to maintain than the warplanes it will replace.

Slippage in the JSF’s timetable may be as much as one year for the Air Force and Navy versions [if things go as now expected--hah!]…

Stevens and Joseph Dellavedova, a U.S. Air Force F-35 program spokesman, said separately that the first two production aircraft, which were supposed to be delivered this month to Edwards Air Force Base, California, are undergoing modifications and will be delivered in April [that's the F-35A version we're buying, and that's a five-month delay for it].

More from Aviation Week & Space Technology:

…further delays are likely to accelerate the recent trend in which international customers – including Norway, the Netherlands and the U.K. – have decided to delay commitments and orders. The new Congress may also slow U.S. acquisitions to avoid an increase in concurrency, or the overlap of production and development…[more here and here]

Meanwhile some usual suspects may have some reason to complain:

Aviation companies decry F-35 purchase
Dassault, Boeing claim they were shut out of lucrative military contract

Update: From Defense Technology’s “Ares” blog on the Boeing Commons’ committee appearance:

…
It’s also significant because of Boeing’s participation: Dassault doesn’t have a lot to lose by trying to upset the JSF applecart on Canada, but when I talked to a Boeing exec in mid-October he thought the company would stay clear of this particular fight. Policy has changed, and one has to wonder whether the Navy customer gave a wink and a nod to Boeing’s action…

In other words the USN would like to acquire even more Super Hornets (as opposed to some 260 F-35Cs, see last para here–or maybe a few more) and would love another customer for the line?

Mark
Ottawa