F-35A Lives On!!

DOD Rejects Canceling Air Force Variant Of JSF, Expert Says

The Pentagon has rejected a proposal to cancel one of three variants of the tri-service F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a defense expert said Dec. 1.

Acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England suggested canceling the Air Force conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) version of JSF and directing the Air Force to buy the Navy carrier variant (CV) instead (DAILY, Nov. 21). But at a Nov. 21 meeting with service secretaries, service chiefs and other high-level officials, England’s proposal was rebuffed, partly because there was no evidence it would save money, said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute, who has talked with senior government officials about the deliberations.

The Air Force still plans to cut the number of Lockheed Martin-built F-35s it will buy from 1,763 to about 1,100, Thompson said. The Marine Corps, which is pursuing the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, and the Navy have already reduced their combined purchase by several hundred jets.

Officials at the Nov. 21 meeting also agreed to stretch out production of F/A-22 Raptors by two years, Thompson said. Funding to build about 180 of the Lockheed Martin jets for the Air Force now will be completed in fiscal 2010, instead of FY ’08 as previously planned. The Air Force wants to avoid closing its only next-generation fighter production line before it is certain that JSF will materialize.

“They call it a bridge,” Thompson told The DAILY. The Air Force believes it “should have at least one line for next-generation fighters.”

Decisions at the Nov. 21 meeting will be formalized in a series of program budget decisions (PBDs) and program decision memorandums (PDMs) between now and Dec. 23, when the structure of the budget will be locked into place, Thompson said.

SBIRS-High review

On a separate track, DOD continues to look at whether the Air Force’s missile-warning Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) should be restructured or canceled due to cost overruns, Thompson said. Reviewers have looked at about three dozen options, most of which involve changing satellite content or the production schedule.

The most likely outcome is that DOD will stick with the current system, which is far along in its development and will meet a high-priority need, Thompson said. Even scaling back SBIRS-High’s capabilities would be hard to do at this late stage, he said.

DOD is supposed to tell Congress by Dec. 13 whether it wants to continue the Lockheed Martin-built system in its current form (DAILY, Nov. 28).

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp?id=news/AFJSF12025.xml

Dont know whats up with the X-31 Pic but i guess commonsense has prevailed both ways in keeping it but cutting the no.s and the incresed f/a-22 run!!!

Anyway i guess more would be clear by dec. 13.