F-35 contract negotiations are hopelessly deadlocked.

Thanks to Moebius2249 for the link!

via Defense News.

Asked whether the UCA funding signified that LRIP 9 and 10 negotiations will continue to drag on, DellaVedova demurred.
“We want to ensure the continued production of F-35s while we continue to negotiate a fair deal,” he said.
The JPO initially predicted it would have a final contract in hand early this year.

The headline of this story is that the Pentagon just gave Lockheed Martin one billion dollars in cash to continue production of the F-35.

That's not the real headline though.  Once again defense journalist failed to connect the dots and added the real news at the end of the article.

They're still negotiating.

F-35 contract negotiations are hopelessly deadlocked.

The Pentagon realizes they're screwed, they're trying to get tough but Lockheed Martin understands that they have them by the short hairs due to the Pentagons talking points, lack of planning and downright stupidity.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

The death spiral is baked into the sauce now.  Two reasons.  First is that the Congress will NOT increase defense spending.  The people are pissed about endless war and the military is unable to rally support like it once did (the generals really fucked themselves but that's what lying does to you).  Second is that LM can't push down the cost curve because the predicted production numbers will NOT be met (I doubt that they ever could...the manufacturing model is fucked beyond recognition...it might be a politically expedient way to manufacture an airplane but it doesn't make economic sense).

The real bad news?  We're gonna see allies that were buying 27 airplanes drop down to 20.  You're about to see air arms go out of business based on the promise of a flawed airplane.