PIRATE and OSF are operational right now 😉

Those are only IRSTs, are not universally installed, and do not have the coverage of EODAS.

And assuming the early jets are “mistake jets” is more nonsense.

A vast majority of the early jets are training and evaluation jets. The partner nations are not scheduled to order their jets until the SECOND round of Block 3 jets.

If by homemade did you mean did I:
1. Download the 2010 USAF and USN budgets (USAF here)
2. Turn to page 40 and add the components together to form the REC Flyaway Cost (airframe, engines, electronics, & flyaway ECO)
3. Open Excel and build a table of info
4. Build a graph to represent the data
5. Save the data as a graphic
6. Upload to web.

If that is what you mean by “homemade”, then yes it is.

By all means, find an official USAF 2010 budget document that states that the REC Flyaway is over $500 Million and build your own table. Don’t forget the source links 😉

Good thinking in my opinion. Personally I am reluctant to believe a word about F-35 price from Lockheed.

The prices are released by both the JPO and LM. The USAF has stated that the average purchase price, of all the F-35s, will be approx $83 Million in THEN YEAR dollars.

I don’t believe the price (divorced from support, spares etc) will ever be lower than $100 million per airframe.

Look at this graph that represents all the LRIP F-35s purchased to date. The price is well on it’s way to below $100 million VERY soon.

Why should it be? Defence planning is a very long term process. Lockheed can charge what they will (well, almost) once an export customer has committed its nation’s air force to F-35 acquisition years ahead with no priced contract being signed at the time of commitment.

LM does not set the price for the F-35. They, for the moment, are on a “cost plus” contract. This means that they can only charge a certain percentage over the cost to make for the F-35. Once the MYB starts, they will enter a fix-price arrangement. Since the JPO is very integrated into the process, the price will be lower than the LRIP costs. Foreign Military Sales prices are dictated by the US Government, not LM.

When the nasty shock of a price far exceeding expectations surfaces at contract signing time, what is the customer to do? Decide to dispense with a large chunk of its air defence/strike capability because its choice of aircraft is much more expensive than expected?

Anyone can track what the US Government is currently paying for the F-35 (just like I did above), so nothing will be a surprise. They also have a level of access that the public does not have. This is why Norway was able to say that their purchase price for the F-35 was so low compared to the Gripen’s.

I think countries opting for the F-35 will likely discover they need to make damaging cuts in other areas of defence to cover unanticipated increased costs in F-35 acquisition.

Again, nothing in unanticipated. If you are speaking about the JET report, it is referring to development costs, not production costs.

In other words, I think that countries selecting F-35 on promised acquisition costs will actually reduce their defence capability.

Even if they only replaced their existing fighters 1 for 2, they would still have a more capable and survivable force.

Do you think they would really bother doing that :rolleyes:

The F 35 will be more than enough to deal with all current and future threats.:diablo:

hehe… this way the F-22s can become quazi “battlefield commanders” or “mini-AWACs”

I’m just curious to know where does this policy complies with the original programe goal for a “cheap” strike fighter using existing technologies?

“Existing tech” was NEVER a requirement.
1. The Radar (T&R modules) are new, and being retrofitted tot he F-22, btw
2. EOTS is a upgrade to Sniper
3. EODAS is new
4. F135 is a development of the F119, IIRC
5. The stealth coatings are new and more durable than the F-22’s
6. The HMD is new, ie no HUD
7. The CIP is new

The “cheapness” of the F-35 will come from:
1. It’s economy of scale
2. Ease of maintenance
3. Self-diagnostic ability
4. Fuel efficiency (from all internal loads)
5. Ease of upgrades due to open architecture based systems

The F-35s are getting cheaper every year.

attached at full res
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