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03-15-2010, 12:32 AM
A congressional auditor says that the Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program, "continues to struggle with increased costs and slowed progress," leading to "substantial risk" that the defense contractor will not be able to build the jet on time or deliver as many aircraft as expected. Michael Sullivan, the U.S. Government Accountability Office's top analyst on Lockheed Martin's jet fighter, also known as the F-35 Lightning II, estimates the cost of the program has increased substantially and that development is 2 1/2 years behind schedule. The United States plans to buy about 2,400 of the fighter jets for the Air Force, the Marine Corps and the Navy. The projected cost for the program appears to have increased to $323 billion from $231 billion in 2001, when Bethesda-based Lockheed won the deal, according to Sullivan. Eight other countries -- Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway -- also plan to buy the jets.
For more information:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031102462.html?hpid=moreheadlines
For more information:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031102462.html?hpid=moreheadlines