Lockheed Martin Insists F-35 Program is Just Fine

If Lockheed Martin is to be believed, there’s not much wrong with the F-35 program.

By Chris Pocock • Defense Correspondent

February 3, 2010

If Lockheed Martin is to be believed, there’s not much wrong with the F-35 program. In a briefing here yesterday, vice president F-35 business development Steve O’Bryan stuck doggedly to the company mantra that development is moving right along, with plenty of accomplishments despite the slow pace of flight testing. Behind-the-scenes though, Monday’s dramatic announcements by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates suggest that a new schedule and a consequent revision of the unit cost estimate is pending. This may hold some nasty surprises, especially for the international partners.

In the meantime, O’Bryan insisted that the date of 2012 for initial operational capability for the U.S. Marine Corps is still valid. He explained that Secretary Gates had allocated an extra $2.8 billion of F-35 funding for the system design and development (SDD) phase. Lockheed Martin would use the extra money to build an additional carrier-capable F-35C and to “increase software productivity.”

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