Tag: f 35 fighters
How F-35 Fighters Will Siphon An Extra Trillion Dollars From Taxpayers

How F-35 Fighters Will Siphon An Extra Trillion Dollars From Taxpayers

Reprinted with permission from DCReport.

When you buy a new car, you aren’t required to go back to the dealership for oil changes, but our nation’s taxpayers are stuck with billions of dollars in bills to maintain pricey weapons systems and aircraft from politically connected firms like Lockheed Martin and Boeing after they sell them to the government.

These “sustainment costs” for the next generation of F-35 fighter jets, already the world’s most expensive weapons program, are expected to top $1 trillion over the life of the program.

“Contractors want the government to accept whatever costs or prices they offer with little review or recourse for overpricing, regardless of contract type or the level of competition involved,” said J. David Cox, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees.

Cox was criticizing a recent government report that recommends ways to ease regulations on contractors to make it easier for our country’s military to compete with China and Russia in modernizing weapons.

“Nothing could be farther from the truth,” Cox wrote in his letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. “If these changes were implemented, they would compound the effects of previous misguided ‘reforms’ and result in large unnecessary costs.”

Will Roper, the assistant secretary of acquisition, technology and logistics for the Air Force, wants to get away from the sustainment model. He suggested paying a license fee or royalties to contractors.

The Air Force could make contracts for upgrades and repairs part of a bidding process and use software that allows different companies to design add-ons for it.

Contractors are pushing back.

“I’m more convinced than ever that would be a mistake,” said Tim Matthews, a retired rear admiral and vice president of F-35 sustainment for Lockheed Martin.

In 2016, Lockheed Martin employed 55 former Defense Department officials as board members or lobbyists, according to a report by Project on Government Oversight.

Boeing, whose KC-46 tanker aircraft were temporarily rejected by the Air Force because of trash and tools left inside, has even more former Defense Department officials on its payroll – 84 in 2016. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan spent 31 years at Boeing.

The estimated price tag for operating and supporting the latest generation of F-35 fighter jets over more than six decades recently grew by almost $73 billion to $1.196 trillion. Our country plans to buy 2,456 of the jets: 1,763 for the Air Force, 420 for the Marines and 273 for the Navy.

US F-35 Fighter Jets Cleared To Fly After Engine Fire

US F-35 Fighter Jets Cleared To Fly After Engine Fire

Washington (AFP) — The U.S. fleet of troubled F-35 fighters has been cleared to fly again but investigators are still uncertain what caused an engine fire on one of the aircraft, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

U.S. Navy and Air Force aviation authorities lifted a ban on flights after having grounded the costly plane and left the door open to the Joint Strike Fighter taking part in the high-profile Farnborough air show in Britain.

The decision gave only a partial green light to the F-35 and ordered a schedule of inspections and flight restrictions.

“This is a limited flight clearance that includes an engine inspection regimen and a restricted flight envelope which will remain in effect until the root cause of the June 23 engine mishap is identified and corrected,” Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John kirby said in a statement.

“We remain hopeful that the F-35 can make an appearance at the Farnborough air show,” he said.

No final decision had been made on whether the plane would make its planned international debut at the Farnborough event, said Kirby, adding that “safety remains the overriding priority.”

The new warplane, touted as a technical wonder that will form the core of America’s future fighter fleet, already missed a British military aviation event over the weekend and the first day of the Farnborough show, which began on Monday and runs through Sunday.

At nearly $400 billion, the F-35 is the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history and officials are eager to reassure foreign partners and potential customers that the warplane remains on course.

But the project has suffered one technical setback after another and the latest problem has turned into a public relations headache, just as the Pentagon planned to stage the plane’s coming-out-party at Farnborough.

U.S. officials chose the Farnborough air show as a way of showcasing the plane in a country that committed to the project early and has invested heavily in the fighter.

Apart from the United States and Britain, seven countries are taking part in the program: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Turkey.

Israel has expressed an interest in the Joint Strike Fighter, as has Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.

On June 23, an engine caught fire on a F-35 as it was about to take off from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The pilot managed to escape unharmed and investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of the incident.

The Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, has said that an inspection of the whole fleet of aircraft indicates the fire was an isolated incident and not part of a broader, systemic problem.

– ‘Serious concerns’ –

Critics of the plane, which is years behind schedule, have seized on the latest problem as proof that the project is deeply flawed.

One U.S. lawmaker, Jim Moran of Virginia, demanded a briefing on the probe into the fire and said the incident “should raise serious concerns about the viability of the program.”

Pentagon officials acknowledge a main cause of the plane’s troubles was a decision to start building the jet before testing was finished. As a result, bugs and other technical glitches have forced repeated repairs and redesign work, slowing down production.

Officials and industry executives insist the plane promises to become the ultimate stealth fighter jet, able to evade enemy radar while flying at supersonic speeds. But the plane so far has yet to achieve the level of performance and reliability expected.

Fresh questions about the F-35 program came as U.S. senators prepared Tuesday to debate military spending proposals for the Joint Strike Fighter for the next fiscal year. The House of Representatives has backed funding for four more aircraft than the Pentagon requested.

AFP Photo

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