Kendall: F-35 Production Ramp-Up Decision A Tough Call
By Amy Butler abutler@aviationweek.com
Source: AWIN First
Pentagon procurement chief Frank Kendall says he hopes to ramp up production of the single-engine, stealthy F-35, made by Lockheed Martin, but he will only do so if adequate progress is made in testing on the troubled program.
Production is slated to go as high as 44 aircraft in fiscal 2014 and then 66 aircraft in 2015 for the Pentagon — up from 29 — if all goes well. Testing thus far has been marred by propulsion problems, durability issues with some F-35 parts and faulty helmets. The tailhook for the F-35C carrier version is also a problem.
“The big decision for me on the F-35 will be the decision on the FY 15 budget: Do we ramp up or not?,” Kendall told reporters at a speech during the Credit Suisse/McAleese Defense Programs conference March 12. “I put two years of flat [production] into the budget last year and I did it as a compromise between stopping entirely and the current plan at the time. That had a big impact on Lockheed. A lot of business slid off on that. I don’t want to do that again. I want to get the rate up if I can.”
Lockheed Martin, however, must deliver on its flight testing and software programs.
“If they stay on track, then we are going to go head and ramp up. The fate of the program is in Lockheed’s hands.”
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, the F-35 program executive officer, says the per-unit price is coming down with each progressive low-rate, initial production (LRIP) contract; the contractor is in LRIP 5. However, the aircraft in LRIP 4 is slated to cost about 7% more than those in the previous lot, Bogdan says.
Bogdan and Lockheed Martin expect to complete negotiations on LRIPs 6 and 7 this summer.
F-35 Chief Considers $80M-90M Unit Cost Possible
By Amy Butler abutler@aviationweek.com
Source: AWIN First
Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney are improving production processes for the F-35 to the extent that they could manage to sell the anticipated 3,000 of the tri-service, multinational fighters, says Program Executive Officer U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan.
“That number is starting to get back into the sweet spot on the curve,” he says of the contractors’ costs, adding that the per-unit price is heading to where the “partners want it to be,” in the range of $80 million to $90 million.
The production lines had been riddled with what officials call “traveling work,” meaning tasks that cannot be done in their designated work stations owing to parts or supply issues, forcing workers to delay them until later in the assembly process.
Now, however, the companies are “doing a very good job recently of taking problems and quirks out of the production line such that it is running smoother.”
However, cost is highly dependent on production numbers, which are soft at this point. Bogdan notes that when Turkey, a production partner, deferred its aircraft two years from low-rate-initial-production (LRIP) lot 7, the remaining aircraft grew in price by $1 million apiece.
“We are all going to hang together or we are all going to hang separately,” Bogdan told an audience at the Credit Suisse/McAleese Defense Programs Conference in Washington March 12.
Meanwhile, Bogdan plans in the “next year or so” to release a request for proposals for management of F-35 training centers. He says he thinks he can save up to one-third of the cost of managing these centers by introducing competition into the process. Lockheed Martin and its primary subcontractors are invited to compete. “I have their attention,” Bogdan says, in terms of the price and deal they are currently discussing with the government.
Prior to releasing the request for proposals, Bogdan says the Joint Program Office is working to ensure it has proper data rights to allow for a competition. The way forward will depend partly on how cooperative Lockheed and Pratt are, he says, adding that they “have lawyers” detailed to protect their businesses.
Likewise, Bogdan sees competition farther down the road for managing support equipment and the fighter’s global supply chain.
tally wrote:CF-07 took to the skies over North Texas for the first time Thursday, Mar 14.
Tally.
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VK-05 & VK-06 are reported on 06mar13Starfighter_F-104G wrote:any first flight date for VK-04 / VK-05 / VK-06?
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