New fighter jet flies into bumpy skies

Posted on: Dec. 4th, 2006 || Source: businessweek.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

To the military and defense firms that make it, the F-35 Lightning II is a "next generation" fighter jet, a technological leap meant to replace several aging fighters and help America maintain its dominance in aerial warfare.

The Pentagon plans to buy thousands of the new stealthy jets, to be flown by three branches of the military and by eight foreign countries. And despite being the most expensive Pentagon spending program ever, with a total cost of about $275 billion, each plane is supposed to be relatively cheap to build, a rarity in defense spending.

But as the first F-35 prepares for its inaugural flight sometime this month, it takes off into some cloudy skies. The program's cost has grown substantially while the number of planes to be built has dropped. Congress has shown a willingness to make cuts, and the coming leadership change at the Pentagon may muddy the plane's future.

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