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WASHINGTON: The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Thursday recommended that the Pentagon limit production of costly F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to 24 annually in the near-term until the jet's capabilities have been demonstrated in flight testing.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is the prime contractor for the supersonic, radar-evading jet being developed by the United States and eight international partners.
The Defense Department expects to spend an eventual $276 billion to develop and buy about 2,443 of the F-35s through 2027.
The GAO, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, said the Pentagon recently began a 7-year, 11,000-hour flight testing program for the F-35 to confirm that the aircraft can deliver the required performance.
“We are recommending that the Secretary of Defense limit annual production quantities to no more than 24 aircraft per year, the current manufacturing capacity, until each variant's basic flying qualities have been demonstrated in flight testing now scheduled in the 2010 time frame,” the report said.
Such a limit is necessary because of potential manufacturing and technical problems that can delay flight testing, the GAO said.
The report also noted that the F-35 program faces uncertainties about annual funding because it requires an “unprecedented” $12.6 billion annually on average.
Under the current schedule, the Pentagon plans to take delivery of 12 F-35s in fiscal 2008, 16 in 2009, and 30 in 2010.
In a Pentagon letter attached to the report, David Ahern, director of portfolio systems acquisition, said the Defense Department disagreed with the recommendation. The letter did not elaborate.
The GAO report, the latest in a series mandated by Congress for the costly fighter jet program, also said that rising costs mean that the Pentagon will pay 12 percent more per F-35 than estimated in 2004.
