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The Air Force has indefinitely suspended plans to ramp up production of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to as many as 110 jets per year, according to senior Air Force officials and Pentagon documents.
For now, the service plans to top-out its purchases at 80 aircraft per year, starting in fiscal year 2016, the same year the fifth-generation fighter is expected to reach its initial operational capability for the Air Force.
“As we look back at what we’ve done to restructure the program, we need to let these changes take effect, see where the program goes and then get on with [a potential increase],” Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Howie Chandler told Inside the Air Force following an April 14 Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing.
“But right now we need to let these changes settle in and see where the program goes,” he said. “It’s an important program to us and we want to see it succeed, obviously.”
The service is “committed to the JSF and the recent restructuring,” according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, and intends to upgrade its legacy fighters to a fifth-generation fleet, “smartly.”
“As the program continues to progress, we will analyze production capacity and available funding for potential production rate adjustments beyond the 80 aircraft per year rate reflected in the current program,” Schwartz told ITAF in an April 15 e-mail through a service spokeswoman.
During his confirmation hearing in July 2008, Schwartz said he was looking to ramp up Air Force F-35 production to as many as 110 aircraft per year. Then-JSF program manager Maj. Gen. Charles Davis told ITAF the following month that the increase was possible.
Since then, the Pentagon has restructured the entire F-35 program in an attempt to rein in soaring production costs and address testing issues. Across the board, the program restructure cuts 122 aircraft from planned Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps buys between FY-11 and FY-15. The program also revised the low-rate initial production blueprint. The update calls for a total of 420 LRIP aircraft across nine lots. In 2001, the approved LRIP program consisted of 465 jets spread out across six lots.
In all, the Air Force buy of 1,763 conventional take off and landing variants of the JSF is expected to total $186 billion, according to the most recent program estimates in the Pentagon’s Selected Acquisition Reports, which were sent to Capitol Hill earlier this month. The estimate uses then-year dollars.
The Air Force plans to buy 23 F-35s in FY-11, 24 in FY-12, 33 in FY-13, 53 in FY-14 and 70 in FY-15, according to the SAR. Production of 80 jets per year begins in FY-16 and goes through FY-34. To account for the reduction of aircraft purchases in the near term, the Air Force has extended the completion of production one year and has a 15-jet purchase planned for FY-35.
F-35-maker Lockheed Martin said this week that once its Fort Worth, TX, assembly line reaches its optimal production rate in 2016, it could build as many as 230 jets per year, according to company spokesman John Kent. That number includes Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and international partner jets.
“We will have capacity to build more jets if requested,” he said.
At the same time the Pentagon plans to delay a multiyear procurement deal with Lockheed by two years until FY-16, according to the SAR document. ITAF first reported in August 2009 that the Defense Department was looking to lock down a multiyear procurement deal in the FY-14 time frame. -- Marcus Weisgerber
For now, the service plans to top-out its purchases at 80 aircraft per year, starting in fiscal year 2016, the same year the fifth-generation fighter is expected to reach its initial operational capability for the Air Force.
“As we look back at what we’ve done to restructure the program, we need to let these changes take effect, see where the program goes and then get on with [a potential increase],” Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Howie Chandler told Inside the Air Force following an April 14 Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing.
“But right now we need to let these changes settle in and see where the program goes,” he said. “It’s an important program to us and we want to see it succeed, obviously.”
The service is “committed to the JSF and the recent restructuring,” according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz, and intends to upgrade its legacy fighters to a fifth-generation fleet, “smartly.”
“As the program continues to progress, we will analyze production capacity and available funding for potential production rate adjustments beyond the 80 aircraft per year rate reflected in the current program,” Schwartz told ITAF in an April 15 e-mail through a service spokeswoman.
During his confirmation hearing in July 2008, Schwartz said he was looking to ramp up Air Force F-35 production to as many as 110 aircraft per year. Then-JSF program manager Maj. Gen. Charles Davis told ITAF the following month that the increase was possible.
Since then, the Pentagon has restructured the entire F-35 program in an attempt to rein in soaring production costs and address testing issues. Across the board, the program restructure cuts 122 aircraft from planned Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps buys between FY-11 and FY-15. The program also revised the low-rate initial production blueprint. The update calls for a total of 420 LRIP aircraft across nine lots. In 2001, the approved LRIP program consisted of 465 jets spread out across six lots.
In all, the Air Force buy of 1,763 conventional take off and landing variants of the JSF is expected to total $186 billion, according to the most recent program estimates in the Pentagon’s Selected Acquisition Reports, which were sent to Capitol Hill earlier this month. The estimate uses then-year dollars.
The Air Force plans to buy 23 F-35s in FY-11, 24 in FY-12, 33 in FY-13, 53 in FY-14 and 70 in FY-15, according to the SAR. Production of 80 jets per year begins in FY-16 and goes through FY-34. To account for the reduction of aircraft purchases in the near term, the Air Force has extended the completion of production one year and has a 15-jet purchase planned for FY-35.
F-35-maker Lockheed Martin said this week that once its Fort Worth, TX, assembly line reaches its optimal production rate in 2016, it could build as many as 230 jets per year, according to company spokesman John Kent. That number includes Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and international partner jets.
“We will have capacity to build more jets if requested,” he said.
At the same time the Pentagon plans to delay a multiyear procurement deal with Lockheed by two years until FY-16, according to the SAR document. ITAF first reported in August 2009 that the Defense Department was looking to lock down a multiyear procurement deal in the FY-14 time frame. -- Marcus Weisgerber
