F-35's costs climb along with concerns

Posted on: Apr. 24th, 2006 || Source: aimpoints.hq.af.mil | E-mail Article | Print Article

F-35's costs climb along with concerns

The maiden flight of the first F-35 joint strike fighter prototype is still months away, and Lockheed Martin's giant development program is already generating budget-busting headlines.

Pentagon officials, in their most recent estimate of major weapons system costs, projected a $276.5 billion cost for developing the F-35 and purchasing 2,500 of the planes for the U.S. and British armed forces.

That’s $20 billion more than the last estimate, in January 2004, and about a $75 billion increase since the program was launched in October 2001.

Skeptics in and out of government fear that it may not be the last big cost increase because the F-35 is still in its infancy and much remains to be done to develop and perfect the warplane’s high-tech systems.

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