Gates assures no more F-35 cost, schedule woes

Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed confidence Wednesday that the troubled F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is on track and said he does not expect more cost increases or schedule delays for the stealthy jets.

"There are no guarantees in any of this, but based on everything that I've seen, I have confidence that the range of cost estimates and timing that is being described and presented to me today will in fact be executed," Gates told the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Gates said his confidence stems from a thorough review of the program by Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter, as well as the decision to rely on the independent Joint Estimating Team's assessment of the F-35 rather than the program office's estimates on cost and schedule.

"Part of the problem we have faced on this program are overly rosy forecasts by the program office itself," Gates said.

In recent months, the Defense Department has restructured its development and procurement of the F-35, the largest weapons system program on the Pentagon's books. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps plan to buy more than 2,400 of the fighters.

The restructuring was prompted by soaring costs, which grew from $50 million average procurement cost per plane in fiscal 2002 to between $79 million and $95 million, in constant dollars, today. Adjusted for inflation, the average procurement cost is projected at between $93 million and $112 million.

The cost increase means the F-35 has breached the 1982 Nunn-McCurdy cost-control law, triggering a congressional review and forcing the Pentagon to prove the program is critical to national security to protect the Lockheed Martin Corp. fighter program from termination.

To address the problems, Gates added 13 months to the development phase of the program, a move that delayed the initial operational use date for the Navy by more than a year and the Air Force by more than two years.

He also has fired the two-star officer who was its program manager and has nominated a three-star officer, Vice Adm. David Venlet, to replace him. And he withheld $614 million in award fees from Lockheed Martin.

"I think we got their attention," Gates said Wednesday.

During the hearing, Gates said the problems with the F-35 are not unusual in a major acquisition program, citing similar troubles early on with the Air Force's F-22 Raptor fighter jet and the C-17 cargo transporter. He also emphasized that most problems have been managerial and not technical.

"It is important to remember that the F-35's cost- and schedule-related issues -- and I regard them as serious, to be sure -- are problems primarily related to program administration and management, not the technology or capability of the aircraft," Gates said. "The Joint Strike Fighter will do everything the military services need it to do, and will become the backbone of U.S. air combat for the next generation."