Lockheed’s F-35: Five years behind schedule, 64% over costs
05 Nov 2011
Ten years and $66 billion later, Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth ground attack fighter aircraft is still in development phase, five years behind schedule and 64 per cent over cost estimates.
It now faces increasing prospects of the Obama administration cancelling some models and also reducing the size of Pentagon's total orders. It is being developed as US Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps variants.
Worse, as defence budgets around the world begin to tighten, there is every possibility that foreign 'partner' nations may reduce the size of their orders leading to a further increase in per unit costs of the plane.
This may explain the reason behind Lockheed's and the Pentagon's anxiety to increase the client base of the aircraft by inviting Indian participation. Any Indian order can potentially be a large one.
India is currently the world's largest importer of arms.
According to data from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), development costs of this fifth generation stealth fighter have overshot 64 per cent, to $56.4 billion since inception.
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