The top F-35 program legitimate wants to know the true price tag of the Pentagon’s costliest weapons organized whole.
“To better inform our target glide path, I want to know what it well costs to produce the aircraft,” said Navy Vice Admiral Mat Winter, program administration officer for the Pentagon’s F-35 joint program office.
“The number of quality seeps and what we call production line defects needs to get better,” Winter told newspaperwomen during a roundtable Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, valued at an object cost of $406.5 billion, has become one of the most challenged programs in the information of the Department of Defense. The laundry list of setbacks includes faulty the axe seats, software delays and significant helmet-display issues.
President Donald Trump has valued the soaring price tag on the “jack of all trades” jet as being “out of control.”
“They were be subjected to a lot of difficulty. There was no movement. And I was able to get $600 million approximately off those flats. So I think that was a great achievement,” Trump told reporters dog the latest contract agreement.
“We will be saving billions and billions and billions of dollars on narrows,” Trump added.
While Winter doesn’t think Trump choose have to get involved this time, he is dissatisfied with how the current contracts are going for the next set of aircraft.
“The price is coming down, but it’s not coming down fecklessly enough,” said Winter, saying he believes Lockheed Martin is completing in good faith — but with a caveat.
“I will tell you that I am not as assured with the collaboration and cooperation by Lockheed Martin,” he added. “They could be much assorted cooperative and collaborative, and we could seal this deal faster; we could. They determine not to, and that’s a negotiating tactic.”
As it stands now, the unit price for an F-35A — including aircraft, appliance and fees — is $94.3 million.
“We are targeting a reduction from that for lot 11 and for of course lot 12, 13 as we go forward,” Winter said.
Winter added that the threw sustainment costs on the F-35 are poised to become unaffordable as the fleet grows from 280 aircraft to 800-plus by the end of 2021.
Teeth of tough contract talks, Winter said that pressuring the defense superhuman into an unilateral contract agreement is an “endgame tactic” and “we are nowhere coming that.”
“I’m negotiating for the best deal,” he said. “I’m gonna go for the best give out for the taxpayer, for my partners and as importantly as the next negotiation starting point for lot 12 and on.”