Are we seeing an internal battle being played out in public?

via Bloomberg Business Week.

The Pentagon’s weapons buyer questioned whether operating costs for Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT:US)’s F-35 fighters will drop as low as the $857 billion over 55 years predicted by the office developing the plane.
“We’re looking at that number,” Frank Kendall, the Defense Department’s undersecretary for acquisition, said today.
He was asked about an estimate provided to lawmakers by the F-35 program office in July that said maintaining a fleet of the fighters would cost 22 percent less than the official estimate of $1.1 trillion developed two years ago by the Pentagon’s independent cost-assessment office. Operating costs include expenses from spare parts to repairs and fuel.
“We are going to do a review of F-35 this fall and we’ll get another estimate out of” the cost-analysis office, Kendall said after speaking at defense conference in Washington. “We’ll probably make some adjustments. I do expect it to come down. I don’t know if it will come down” to $857 billion.
The F-35 is the Pentagon’s costliest weapon system, with an estimated price tag of $391.2 billion for a fleet of 2,443 aircraft, up 68 percent from the projection in 2001, as measured in current dollars.
The rising costs and troubles in building the plane even as it’s being developed have led to criticism in Congress. This year, lawmakers, the Government Accountability Office and the Pentagon test office have said the aircraft is making progress in flight tests and in stabilizing production.

I said in an earlier post that we're reaching critical mass with the F-35.  Consider this.

*  The X-47 has thrilled with the potential it displayed during its carrier trials.  Its obviously well suited to perform the deep strike mission especially in the anti-access environment of the Pacific.  Yet for some reason, the powers that be are insisting that ISR be prioritized over strike in its development.
*  We just heard that the Navy is showing interest in the Ultra Hornet.
*  S. Korea rejected the F-35 in favor of the more affordable F-15SE.
*  Norway and Canada both appear to be suffering from a bit of sticker shock and estimates for the cost of the plane have swelled beyond what was originally programed.
*  LM and the Marine Corps suddenly found cost savings, when before we were being told that the program is being ran as efficiently as possible.
*  And now this story.  The Chief Weapons Buyer for the Pentagon doesn't seem to trust the numbers being put out by the Program Office.

Critical Mass?

If I didn't know better I'd swear that we're seeing a program fighting for its very life.  Have you paid attention to the advertising that LM, the Marine Corps and the Program Office is involved in when it comes to pushing the F-35?

Its almost obscene.  Danger focuses the mind and it appears that the Commandant's Office and the others are all focused like a laser right now.

I'm of the opinion that we're seeing the first real threat of program cancellation for the F-35.  We've heard talk before but judging from the reactions of those involved, shit just got real.

Critical mass has arrived with a vengeance.