Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act. The OODA Loop remains a key concept for those who fight, especially fighter pilots. After all, Air Force Col. John Boyd made it and his theory of Energy-Maneuverability famous with his bold claim to be able to defeat any other pilot within 40 seconds. Boyd helped inspire the designs of the […]
WASHINGTON: The cost estimate battle between the F-35 program office and the rest of the government continues unabated in the latest annual GAO report about the Joint Strike Fighter. The Government Accountability Office says the program will rack up $1.2 billion more in costs than the F-35’s Joint Program Office does. And, as has been true in […]
WASHINGTON: Two top Pentagon officials laid out a multi-pronged push to lower the price of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter below $80 million apiece. The chief of the F-35 Joint Program Office, Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, and the director of defense pricing, Shay Assad, are underwhelmed by contractor Lockheed Martin‘s cost reduction efforts so far. […]
WASHINGTON: While President Trump has not yet “saved” American taxpayers “billions of dollars” on the F-35 program as his spokesman claimed recently, today’s deal for 90 planes pushes the average cost of an F-35A below $100 million per plane for the first time. Plane maker Lockheed Martin has promised the F-35A will drop below $85 […]
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump, repeating a trick he’s used with the automobile makers, claimed credit today for something he didn’t have much to do with, but that became final during his administration. Trump told White House reporters, who can’t be expected to know much about the F-35 program, that he had saved taxpayers $600 million in the […]
ARLINGTON: One week after President-Elect Donald Trump tweeted that the cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was “out of control,” the F-35 program office announced the price of most variants had dropped yet again. The contract for Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 9 will buy 57 aircraft, 34 for the US and 23 […]
WASHINGTON: In an extraordinary action, the F-35 Joint Program Office decided 14 or 18 months of negotiations was enough and has issued a “unilateral contract” for the latest Low Rate Initial Production contract to defense giant Lockheed Martin. In simple terms, the Pentagon got sick and tired of talking with Lockheed and told them, here’s how much […]
The F-35 program completed 25 weapons tests in a month, a marked surge from the previous high of three in November 2014. The weapons tests used the aircraft’s latest software, the 3F version. During the tests, some 30 weapons were dropped or fired, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), AIM-120 Missile, the Small Diameter Bomb […]
CORRECTS: State of Sen. Angus King To Maine. CAPITOL HILL: Sen. John McCain does not want the Pentagon to put together a so-called bulk buy of F-35s, decrying the program’s repeated failures over the last 15 years. McCain, citing his status as taxpayer watchdog, said during today’s Senate Armed Service Committee’s hearing on the F-35 that […]
WASHINGTON: The B-21 bomber probably uses some common technologies and equipment to that used for the Joint Strike Fighter’s F135 engine. We can’t be certain because no one will confirm it. But Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, head of the F-35 program, did tell the annual McAleese/Credit Suisse conference this: “There are some things we learned from the […]
ARLINGTON, VA: Three years ago, Lockheed Martin made the bold boast that F-35s would cost less than $85 million a copy by 2019, less than any existing fourth-generation fighter. Skeptics howled. Boeing scoffed (eager to sell their ostensibly cheaper F-18 and keep its production line open). Most of us were impressed at then-Lockheed Martin program manager […]