Could Lockheed have forked over 20% of F-35 development costs, like KAI for the KF-X?
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is expected to complete construction of the first KF-X fighter aircraft prototype by the first half of 2021 and conduct the […]
F-35
Edward Keating on weapons sustainment and CBO analyses
Edward Keating joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to talk about a wide range of issues. He is the Deputy Assistant Director for National […]
Podcast: Bruce Cameron on technology strategies and architecture
I was pleased to have Bruce Cameron on the Acquisition Talk podcast. He is the director of the System Architecture Lab at Massachusetts Institute of […]
Israeli F-35s penetrate Iranian airspace undetected; Iran general sacked for cover-up
Israeli F-35 stealth fighters fly secret mission undetected in Iranian airspace. Teheran sacks air defence commander for failure to report intrusion… The [Kuwaiti] newspaper’s […]
GAO produces 18 reports on F-35 between 2001-2018
The GAO says it produced 18 reports specifically on the F-35 between 2001 and 2018. Here’s an excerpt from the first: Although the Joint Strike Fighter […]
Can the F-35 take the place of the A-10?
Retaining the A-10 will help the Air Force to preserve to preserve the Warthog community’s hard won close air support skills and expertise. However, the A-10 […]
Views on the defense industrial report
First, were you aware that the Pentagon even had an Office of Defense Industrial Policy? It sounds suspiciously like the kind of government organization that engages in economic planning, a practice anathema not just to Republicans but to many Democrats as well.
Sunday Links
Update on the readiness crisis. Electronic warfare. Jedi cloud computing contract. Aviation crisis. Revolving door stats.
$22.7 billion F-35 production deal before Operational Testing
One might think that for such a big order to be placed, the F-35 worked out all the development kinks. But it looks like a ploy to get a big contract, claim economy of scale savings, and fix the planes later. The contract was 40% of Lockheed’s total ordinary revenue, and the US’s end of the bill looks to be nearly one-third of the entire aircraft procurement budget for Navy and Air Force, which came in at about $36 billion in the FY 2019 request.