Thompson on the F-35.
The latest production agreement represents an auspicious start to the
Pentagon's big efficiency push, because the aircraft will be built for
about 20 percent less than government estimators had expected under a
fixed-price contract in which any cost overruns will have to be partly
covered by the contractor. Government plans had called for commencing
fixed-rate pricing later in the program, but the government elected to
transfer risk to the contractor earlier in the production cycle, in
return for which Lockheed Martin received incentives to surpass the
performance to which it had committed. The company apparently felt
confident it could meet or exceed government goals, based in part on the
very positive test results being recorded for the Air Force variant of
the plane in California.
The defense department expects to buy 2,443 F-35s in three
different variants for the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps.
The sea-service versions will cost more than the Air Force variant
because they are being bought in smaller numbers and incorporate special
features such as the ability to take off and land vertically. Recent
testing successes on the Air Force version are crucial to the program's
success, since it represents over two-thirds of the planned domestic buy
and is the main export variant. The Pentagon's Cost Assessment and
Program Evaluation office stated earlier this year that all three
variants of the plane were meeting key performance requirements and
appeared to face no significant design challenges.
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